I recently ran across an excellent old insult, the word courtnoll: "A contemptuous or familiar name for a courtier" (OED). We don't have much occasion to insult courtiers these days, but courtnoll is based on noll "The top or crown of the head; the head itself. In later use freq. with the epithet drunken." A sample of citations with the freq. epithet:
1577 W. HARRISON Descr. Eng. II. vi. I. 161 He carrieth off a drie dronken noll to bed with him.
1600 P. HOLLAND tr. Livy Rom. Hist. XXXIII. xlviii. 851 When.. they awoke and roused themselues, with their drunken and drousie nols.
1626 N. BRETON Fantasticks in Wks. II. 14/2 The nappy Ale makes many a drunken Noll.
And a fine one without it:
1825 Blackwood's Mag. Jan. 113 I'll split thy pruriginious nowl.
I'll leave the construction of suitable imprecations to the inventive reader.
Posted by languagehat at April 16, 2006 09:40 PMI wonder how it became a surname, then.
Posted by: kate m. at April 17, 2006 10:46 AMI can't find any reference to a surname Courtnoll, but there are plenty of surnames derived from derisive nicknames (Ballard originally meant 'baldy' and Glavin was 'glutton,' for example). The Middle Ages saw such delightful surnames as Piggesflesh, Pourfishe, Catsnose, and Cocksbrain, but these have for some reason fallen by the wayside.
Posted by: language hat at April 17, 2006 11:03 AMOld Noll was the nickname the Cavaiers had for Oliver Cromwell. I assume it is derived from "noll"= "head", but can't find any true derivation.
Posted by: steveh at April 17, 2006 01:47 PMNo, Noll was just a nickname for Oliver parallel to Ned for Edward.
Posted by: language hat at April 17, 2006 02:32 PMSo the word "noll" means the same as the word "poll"?
Posted by: Cryptic Ned at April 18, 2006 11:37 AMHuh. I guess it does.
Posted by: language hat at April 18, 2006 01:38 PMShelton's (contemporary) translation of Cervantes renders palaciega with it once.
Posted by: MMcM at April 18, 2006 04:01 PM