Etymologically
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garland

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɡɑː.lənd/[1]
  • US: /ˈɡɑɹ.lənd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gerlond, also garland,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French garlande, also gerlande and gallande.[5][2][3] The MED suggests that the second syllable of some Middle English forms was influenced by lond (“land”).[2] Etymonline notes that Medieval Latin garlanda is recorded in England from the mid-13th century,[6] and Weekley quotes Matthew Paris, who wrote that a small gold crown was commonly called garlanda.[7][8] The word has many Romance forms: Old Occitan garlanda, Old Spanish guarlanda and Catalan garlanda, and with another vowel French guirlande, Italian ghirlanda, Spanish guirnalda and Portuguese grinalda.[5][6][9] Modern French guirlande replaced garlande and came from the Italian.[7][9] The further origin is unknown according to Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English.[4][10][11] Others propose a Germanic source:[12][9] Etymonline and Partridge derive it from a frequentative of Frankish *wēron (“to adorn, bedeck”),[6][13][3] compared with Middle High German wieren (“to adorn”) and Old High German wiara (“fine gold”),[14][6][7] so that the first meaning would have been an ornament of twisted gold wire;[6][7][15] Barnhart thinks the connection with the German verb dubious.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wreath of flowers or leaves worn on the head or hung up as an ornament: 1303, in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.[5] Barnhart dates gerlond probably to about 1300,[16][3] and Etymonline gives about 1300 for both "wreath of flowers" and "crown of gold or silver".[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English and later a garland could also be a crown of gold or silver work (from about 1366) and a royal crown or diadem (about 1330 to 1615);[5][2] Trench notes that garland was once the technical name of the royal crown, not a poetic one,[8] and Weekley thought a metal circlet was probably the first meaning.[7] Langland called Christ's crown of thorns a garland (1377).[5][2] The wreath given to a victor, and the phrases to win or carry away the garland, are recorded from the early 16th century.[5] From 1612 garland was also a title for a collection of poems or ballads, an anthology.[5][17] The verb meant first to form flowers into a garland (about 1420), then to crown or deck with garlands (1593, in Drayton).[5][6] In many English counties the May garland was a hoop or frame decked with flowers and ribbons that children carried about on the first of May.[18]

Timeline

  • 1303 – a wreath of flowers or leaves.[5]
  • c. 1330 – a royal crown (obsolete by 1615).[5]
  • c. 1366 – a wreath of gold or silver work.[5]
  • 1377 – Christ's crown of thorns (obsolete).[5]
  • c. 1420 – verb, to form flowers into a garland.[5]
  • early 16th century – the victor's wreath.[5]
  • 1593 – verb, to crown or deck with garlands.[5]
  • 1612 – a collection of poems or ballads.[5]
  • 1841 – a natural festoon.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wreath or festoon of flowers or leaves, worn on the head or neck or hung up as decoration: a garland of daisies.[17][5][14]
  2. A wreath given as a mark of honour, especially to a victor.[5][14]
  3. A carved or painted representation of such a wreath.[17][5]
  4. A collection of short literary pieces, such as poems or ballads; an anthology.[17][5]
  5. (nautical) A ring or grommet of rope.[17]
  6. (obsolete) A royal crown or diadem.[5][14][8]

Verb

  1. To crown or deck with garlands: The children garlanded the statue with ivy.[17][5][14]
  2. To form flowers or leaves into a garland.[5][14]

Word family

  • garlandless
  • garlandlike
  • engarland
  • ungarland

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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)
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ a b c Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  9. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  14. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  15. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  16. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  17. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  18. ^ 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)