Abachelor is a man who is not and never has been married.[1]
A bachelor is first attested as the 12th-centurybacheler: aknight bachelor, aknight too young or poor to gather vassals underhis own banner.[2] TheOld Frenchbacheler presumably derives fromProvençalbacalar andItalianbaccalare,[2] but the ultimate source of the word is uncertain.[3][2] TheproposedMedieval Latin *baccalaris ("vassal", "field hand") is only attested late enough that it may have derived from the vernacular languages,[2] rather than from the southern French and northern Spanish Latin[3]baccalaria.[4] Alternatively, it has been derived from Latinbaculum ("a stick"), in reference to the wooden sticks used by knights in training.[5][6]
From the 14th century, the term "bachelor" was also used for a junior member of aguild (otherwise known as "yeomen") oruniversity and then for low-level ecclesiastics, as youngmonks and recently appointedcanons.[7] As an inferior grade of scholarship, it came to refer to one holding a "bachelor's degree". This sense ofbaccalarius orbaccalaureus is first attested at theUniversity of Paris in the 13th century in the system of degrees established under the auspices ofPope Gregory IX as applied to scholars stillin statu pupillari. There were two classes ofbaccalarii: thebaccalarii cursores, theological candidates passed for admission to the divinity course, and thebaccalarii dispositi, who had completed the course and were entitled to proceed to the higher degrees.[8]
In theVictorian era, the term "eligible bachelor" was used in the context ofupper classmatchmaking, denoting a young man who was not only unmarried and eligible for marriage, but also considered "eligible" in financial and social terms for the prospective bride under discussion. Also in the Victorian era, the term "confirmed bachelor" denoted a man who desired to remain single.
By the later 19th century, the term "bachelor" had acquired the general sense of "unmarried man". The expressionbachelor party is recorded 1882. In 1895, a feminine equivalent "bachelor-girl" was coined, replaced in US English by "bachelorette" by the mid-1930s. In England and Wales, the term "bachelor" remained the official term used for the purpose of marriage registration until 2005, when it was abolished in favor of "single."[9]
Bachelors have been subject topenal laws in many countries, most notably inAncientSparta andRome.[3] At Sparta, men unmarried after a certain age were subject to various penalties (Ancient Greek:ἀτιμία,atimía): they were forbidden to watch women's gymnastics; during the winter, they were made to march naked through theagora singing a song about their dishonor;[3] and they were not provided with the traditional respect due to the elderly.[10] SomeAthenian laws were similar.[11]Over time, some punishments developed into no more than a teasing game. In some parts of Germany, for instance, men who were still unmarried by their 30th birthday were made to sweep the stairs of thetown hall until kissed by a "virgin".[12] In a 1912Pittsburgh Press article, there was a suggestion that local bachelors should wear a special pin that identified them as such, or a black necktie to symbolize that "....they [bachelors] should be in perpetual mourning because they are so foolish as to stay unmarried and deprive themselves of the comforts of a wife and home."[13]
The idea of atax on bachelors has existed throughout the centuries. Bachelors in Rome fell under theLex Julia of 18 BC and theLex Papia Poppaea of AD 9: these lay heavy fines on unmarried or childless people while providing certain privileges to those with several children.[3] A law known as theMarriage Duty Act 1695 was imposed on single males over 25 years old by the English Crown to help generate income for theNine Years' War.[14] InBritain, taxes occasionally fell heavier on bachelors than other persons: examples include6 & 7 Will. 3,[which?] the 1785 Tax on Servants, and the 1798 Income Tax.[3]
A study that was conducted by professor Charles Waehler at theUniversity of Akron in Ohio on non-marriedheterosexual males deduced that once non-married men reach middle age, they will be less likely to marry and will remain unattached later into their lives.[15] The study concluded that there is only a 1-in-6 chance that men older than 40 will leave the single life, and that after the age 45, the odds fall to 1-in-20.[15]
In certainGulf Arab countries, "bachelor" can refer to men who are single as well as immigrant men married to a spouse residing in their country of origin (due to the high added cost of sponsoring a spouse onsite).[16]
The termbachelorette[17] is sometimes used to refer to a woman who has never been married.
The traditional female equivalent to bachelor isspinster, which is consideredpejorative and impliesunattractiveness (i.e. old maid,cat lady).[17] The term "bachelorette" has been used in its place, particularly in the context ofbachelorette parties andreality TV seriesThe Bachelorette.[18]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bachelor".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 132.
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