Kholop

A kholop (Russian: холо́п; IPA: [xɐˈlop]) was a feudally dependent person in Russia between the 10th and early 18th centuries. Their legal status was close to that of serfs.

The word kholop was first mentioned in a chronicle for the year of 986. Its etymology is unclear. By one hypothesis, the word is cognate with Slavic words translated as "boy" (more specifically, adolescent male; modern Ukrainian: хлопець (khlopets), Polish: chlopak), which is similar to the use of the English word boy as "servant".

The Slavic word itself is derived from the hypothetical root *chol related to premarital state, unmarriedness, inability for reproduction. By another hypothesis, it is derived from a Germanic root, represented in English by the word "help".

The Russkaya Pravda, a legal code of the late Kievan Rus, details the status and types of kholops of the time.

In the 11th - 12th centuries, the term referred to different categories of dependent people and especially slaves. A kholop’s master had unlimited power over his life, e.g., he could kill him, sell him, or pay his way out of debt with him. The master, however, was responsible for a kholop’s actions, such as insulting a freeman or stealing.

A person could become a kholop as a result of capture, selling oneself, being sold for debts, after having committed crimes, or through marriage to a kholop. Until the late 15th century, the kholops represented a majority among the servants, who had been working lordly lands. Some kholops, mainly house serfs, replenished the ranks of the princely servants (including those in the military) or engaged themselves in trades, farming, or administrative activities.

...
Wikipedia