geard

geard¹ enclosure, yard

Pronunciation

• /jæ͜ɑrd/, [jæ͜ɑrˠd]^[1]

Forms

ġeard m (strong a-stem; genitive singular ġeardes, nominative plural ġeardas)^[1]

Etymology

The noun “enclosure” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *gard, from Proto-Germanic *gardaz (“courtyard, enclosure”).^[1][2] It has cognates in Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃 (gards, “house, household, courtyard”), Old Norse garðr (“fence, wall; yard”), Old Saxon gard (“field, ground, house”) and Old High German gart (“enclosure”).^[2][3] Beside it stands an n-stem, seen in Old Frisian garda and Old High German garto (whence German Garten).^[2]

Kroonen explains the Proto-Germanic noun as an o-stem made to the root Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ-, whose old sense “circle” he finds still in Faroese.^[2] Orel compares Sanskrit गृह (gṛhá, “house”), Albanian gardh (“fence”) and Proto-Slavic *gordъ (“fence, town”), and Köbler sets up Proto-Indo-European *gʰortos (“enclosure”).^[3][4][5]

Hogg takes the spelling ⟨-ġard⟩ in the Leningrad manuscript of Cædmon's Hymn, against ⟨-ġeard⟩ in the Moore manuscript, for a low-stress form.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The simplex is first dated by the bounds of a grant of King Edgar of 958 to his thegn Ealhstan, of land at Staunton on Arrow, Herefordshire, which survives in what Keynes holds to be the original single sheet (s. x med.): the boundary runs of mærþorne ondlong geardes in ðæt hlid get “from the boundary thorn along the fence to the swing-gate”.^[7][8] Toller's Supplement takes ondlong geardes in the bounds as either “fence” or “enclosure”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From an enclosed place the word came to mean a garden or court, a dwelling and home, and a region or land.^[10][11] Toller's Supplement adds the sense “fence, hedge”, where the Dialogues of Gregory have geard and a variant reading hege for the Latin “sepes”.^[9] The plural, used for the singular in the dative, is a poetic phrase: in geardum “at home, in the world”, as in Beowulf and Christ.^[12][10] It lives on in compounds such as middanġeard “the world” and wīnġeard “vineyard”.^[12][10]

As Middle English yerd it narrowed to the ground about a house, a castle's precincts and a churchyard.^[13] The modern English yard continues it, while the northern garth is the Old Norse cognate garðr.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 958 – ondlong geardes in the bounds of King Edgar's grant at Staunton on Arrow, in an apparent original.^[7][8]
• s. x² – geongre in geardum in Christ in the Exeter Book.^[16][8]
• s. x² – grēne geardas “green regions” in Genesis in the Junius manuscript.^[17][10]
• s. x/xi – of geardum “from his courts” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][10]
• 1300 – Boureyerd in a manorial document, the first Middle English record in the MED.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. an enclosure, enclosed place; a fence or hedge.^[10][9][19]
2. a yard, garden, court.^[10][11]
3. a dwelling, home;^[10][12] in geardum at home, in the world.^[10][12]
4. a region, land.^[10][4]

Word family

• middanġeard
• wīnġeard
• ortġeard
• wyrtġeard
• friþġeard
• æcerġeard
• fæderġeard
• leodġeard

Descendants

• Middle English yerd (→ English yard; Middle Scots ȝaird; Middle Scots ȝarde)^[1]

geard² rod, staff

Pronunciation

• /jæ͜ɑrd/, [jæ͜ɑrˠd]^[1]

Forms

ġeard f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular ġearde, nominative plural ġearda)^[1]

Etymology

The noun “rod” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *gaʀd, from Proto-Germanic *gazdaz (“goad, spike”).^[1] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌶𐌳𐍃 (gazds, “sting, goad”), Old Norse gaddr (“goad, spike”), Old Saxon gard (“rod”) and Old High German gart (“prickle”).^[20][21] Bosworth and Toller refer it to ġierd, and Köbler lists this noun as a spelling of that word, which goes back to the related Proto-Germanic *gazdjō (“rod”).^[10][22][20]

The Germanic word matches Old Irish gat (“withe, osier”), while Latin hasta (“spear-shaft”) and gas (“shoot, twig”) point to a form with a voiceless dental;^[20] Kroonen takes this variation for a sign of a loan from a non-Indo-European language of Europe.^[20] Orel compares the same Irish and Latin words.^[21]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bosworth and Toller's one passage is in the annal for 852 in the Chronicle: He scolde gifan sex fóður gearda “he should give six loads of faggots”.^[10] The MED quotes it from the Peterborough Chronicle, which it dates a1121.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the senses staff, rod, stake and faggot, glossing Latin “baculum”, “virga”, “palus” and “fascis”.^[10] The word appears in the compound cyneġeard “royal rod, sceptre”.^[10][1] The MED gathers this word with ġierd under Middle English yerd “stick, pole, rod”.^[13]

Timeline

• a1121 – sex foður gearda “six loads of faggots” in the Peterborough Chronicle, annal 852.^[13][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. a staff, rod; a stake.^[10][1]
2. a bundle of sticks, a faggot.^[10][1]

Word family

• cyneġeard