Etymologically
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geard

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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
  • gyrdan
  • ġierd

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 169
  3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 126
  4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. geard
  5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  6. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.20
  7. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 677
  8. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  9. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 288
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 367
  11. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 149
  12. ^ a b c d Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. ġeard
  13. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  14. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 195
  15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 223
  17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 513
  18. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344
  19. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 95
  20. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 172
  21. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 129
  22. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. gierd