bard

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɑːd/ (UK); /bɑɹd/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bard, first in Scottish use as baird,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Scottish Gaelic bàrd, Irish bard,^[5][2][6][7] from Proto-Celtic *bardos (“poet, singer”);^[3][7] compare Welsh bardd, Breton barz and Cornish bardh.^[2][5][8] It is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷredʰo- (“one who praises”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *gʷerə- (“to favour”).^[3][5] The Gaulish word passed into Ancient Greek βάρδος (bárdos) and Latin bardus.^[2][9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In early Lowland Scots, a strolling musician or minstrel (1449 in the OED and Barnhart);^[10][2] of the ancient Celtic order of minstrel-poets, c. 1450.^[10][3] It was a surname by 1297.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Among the Welsh the bard was held in great respect, but among the Scots the word became a term of contempt, for the bards were considered vagrant troublemakers,^[3][2][10] and Scottish laws named them among beggars and vagabonds.^[4] Through the Latin and Greek words it was used in literature as a poetic term,^[2][3] for the early minstrels of other nations, such as the Old English gleeman (1623),^[10] and for any lyric or epic poet (1606).^[10] Sir Walter Scott idealized it in the older sense of lyric poet and singer.^[3] The Bard is Shakespeare.^[8] In modern Wales it is a poet who wins a verse competition at an eisteddfod.^[11] An unrelated word bard, from French barde, means armour for a horse (1480) and a slice of bacon laid over meat for cooking.^[10][6][8]

Timeline

• 1297 – as a surname.^[4]
• 1449 – baird, a strolling minstrel (Scots).^[10][2]
• c. 1450 – a Celtic minstrel-poet.^[10]
• 1606 – any poet.^[10]
• 1623 – an early minstrel of other nations.^[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. One of an ancient Celtic order of minstrel poets who composed and recited verses about the deeds of chiefs and heroes, often to the harp.
2. A poet, especially a lyric or epic poet, and as the Bard, Shakespeare.
3. A poet who wins a verse competition at a Welsh eisteddfod.
4. A piece of armour for a horse's neck, breast or flank.
5. A thin slice of fat or bacon laid over meat or poultry for cooking.

Verb

1. To cover meat or poultry with slices of fat or bacon before cooking.
2. To equip a horse with bards.

Word family

• bardic

Related words

• minstrel
• skald
• troubadour
• eisteddfod

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins