Etymologically
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gardener

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɡɑːd.n̩.ə/, /ˈɡɑːd.nə/[1]
  • US: /ˈɡɑɹd.n̩.ɚ/, /ˈɡɑɹd.nɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gardiner, also gardener and gardinier,[2][3] probably borrowed from Anglo-Norman gardiner (“gardener”), a variant of jardiner,[4][5] beside Old French gardinier of northern Old French,[2][3][6][7] and jardinier, the source of the modern French word.[4][7] The French noun is formed from gardin (“kitchen garden”), the word that gave garden,[7][4] with the suffix -ier, from Latin -ārius.[3] The OED allows that it may instead have been formed from English garden + -er on the Anglo-Norman model.[4] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the third quarter of the 12th century,[5] and Medieval Latin gardinarius is frequent in British sources from the 12th century.[4][6] The OED compares Italian giardiniere (13th century), Spanish jardinero and Portuguese jardineiro, as well as the derivatives of the Germanic words for a garden Old High German gartināri and German Gärtner.[4][7] The Old English word for a gardener was wyrtweard, literally "plant-guard".[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person employed to tend a garden: about 1300 (composed c. 1280), in the Southern Passion, where Mary Magdalene takes the risen Christ for a gardener.[4][2] Etymonline dates the word to the late 13th century.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word was a surname before it was recorded as an ordinary noun: the OED lists Anger gardiner (before 1166), Wulfiet le Gardiner (1169) and Willelmus Gardiner (1208),[4] and Etymonline dates the surname to the early 12th century.[7] Some of the earliest uses retell John 20:15 and follow Latin hortulanus there,[4] the word that the Old English gospels had rendered with wyrtweard.[8] In Middle English a gardener could also be, figuratively, one who takes care of the soul, especially God;[2] the Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340) has the figurative use, and the sense of a person skilled in gardening or gardening as a pastime grew from it.[4] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "he that attends or cultivates gardens", quoting Othello: "our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners".[9] In slang it has stood for the penis (1691, as a double entendre)[10] and for a bad coachman (1859), implying he would do better in a garden.[10] In American baseball slang an outfielder is a gardener.[3]

Timeline

  • before 1166 – Anger gardiner, a surname.[4]
  • c. 1300 – a person employed to tend a garden, in the Southern Passion.[4][2]
  • 1340 – figurative, and a person skilled in gardening, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.[4][2]
  • 1691 – slang, the penis.[10]
  • 1755 – Johnson: "he that attends or cultivates gardens".[9]
  • 1859 – slang, an incompetent coachman.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person employed to look after a garden or the grounds of a property: The estate keeps two gardeners.[11][3][4]
  2. A person who grows plants as a hobby, or who is skilled in gardening: My uncle is a keen gardener.[11][4]
  3. (baseball slang) An outfielder.[3]
  4. A bowerbird of the genus Amblyornis.[11]

Word family

  • undergardener
  • landscape gardener

Usage notes

In Scotland and the north of England gardener's garters was a name for ribbon grass, a striped variety of reed canary grass.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)