gird

gird¹ encircle, bind

Etymology

The verb meaning to encircle or bind is inherited from Middle English girden, also gurden and gerden,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English gyrdan (“to put a belt around, encircle”),^[5][6][7][8] from Proto-Germanic *gurdijaną,^[1][9] formed beside a strong verb *gerdan-.^[9] Its cognates are Old Saxon gurdian, Old Frisian gerda, Dutch gorden, Old High German gurten, German gürten and Old Norse gyrða,^[5][6][4] and another grade of the same root gives Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌳𐌰𐌽 (bigairdan, “to gird”) and 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌳𐌰 (gairda, “girdle”).^[6][3] Etymonline derives the Germanic verb from Proto-Indo-European *gher- (“to grasp, enclose”), with a suffix.^[5][10] Barnhart reconstructs *gherdh- and Kroonen *ghrdh-ié-.^[4][9] The words girth and girdle are related.^[11][12] Klein and Merriam-Webster connect yard as well.^[3][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To put a belt or girdle around someone: Barnhart dates the Old English verb to about 725, in Beowulf;^[4] the OED's first quotation is from the Lindisfarne Gospels, at John 21:18,^[6] a verse Bosworth–Toller quotes as ðú gyrdest ðé, and Dictionary.com says before 950.^[7][14] The first record in Middle English is the Ancrene Riwle, probably before 1200 according to Barnhart, and about 1230 according to the MED.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Old English already used the verb for fastening on a sword and, figuratively, for endowing someone with strength or power, after biblical phrasing.^[6] The OED notes that it has been mainly a rhetorical word throughout its history, often alluding to the Bible,^[6][5] and Weekley agrees.^[15] Middle English added the sense of surrounding or enclosing, from about 1290,^[6][2] and fastening a saddle on a horse, from about 1330 to 1677.^[6][2] The figurative use for preparing oneself, as a person tightens the belt and tucks up long clothes before a task or journey, is recorded from about 1450, in a translation of Thomas à Kempis;^[6][4][5] Collins and the Concise Oxford record it in the phrase gird up one's loins.^[16][12] From 1548 it could also mean to surround a town with an armed force.^[6] Johnson (1755) gave to bind round, to put on so as to surround, and to fasten by binding.^[17] The noun girder, a main supporting beam, is formed from the verb and is recorded from 1611, in Cotgrave.^[4][3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – to put a belt around someone.^[4]
• c. 1290 – of a thing, to encircle or enclose.^[6]
• 1297 – to secure clothing or armour with a girdle.^[6]
• c. 1330 – to bind a horse with a saddle-girth (obsolete by 1677).^[6]
• c. 1450 – figurative, to prepare oneself for action.^[6][4]
• 1548 – to surround a town with an armed force.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To encircle or bind with a belt or band.^{[16][13][10][6]}
2. To fasten something on with a belt or band: She girded on her sword.^{[16][13][10][6]}
3. To surround or encircle: A low wall girds the old town.^[16][13][10]
4. To prepare oneself for action, often in gird up one's loins: The union is girding for a long strike.^{[16][10][12][6]}
5. To endow with a rank or attribute, especially knighthood; to equip.^[16][13][6]
6. (chiefly Scottish) To put a hoop on a barrel or cask.^[13]
7. (obsolete, c. 1330–1677) To bind a horse with a saddle-girth.^[6][2]

Word family

• girder
• begird
• engird
• undergird
• ungird

gird² sneer, jeer

Etymology

The verb meaning to sneer or jeer is inherited from Middle English girden (“to strike, thrust”), also gurden,^{[13][10][2][3]} of unknown origin.^{[6][18][11][19][16]} The MED suggests either an unrecorded Old English form akin to gierd (“rod”), the source of yard², or a special development of the verb meaning to encircle,^[2] and Weekley and Partridge also identify it with that verb, Partridge citing Webster's idea of a lash circling the person struck.^[15][20] The OED rejects the Old English source because of the initial sound, and finds no indirect link either.^[6] Klein and the Shorter Oxford compare gride.^[3][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To strike someone: the MED's first quotation is from about 1230, in the Ancrene Wisse;^[2] the OED's is from about 1275, in Laȝamon's Brut.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense spread from striking to thrusting or driving roughly, from 1377, in Piers Plowman, and to moving suddenly or rushing, from the early 15th century.^[6] The sense of sneering is a figurative use, first recorded in 1546, in Bale's Actes of Englysh Votaryes, like the later to have a hit at.^[6][15][13] It has been the current sense since, though the Concise Oxford labels it archaic.^[6][12] The noun, made from the verb,^[6][11] went the same way, from a sharp blow (1487) to a sudden jerk (1545) and a biting remark (1566), common from about 1580 to 1700.^[6][13] Johnson (1755) took the noun, meaning a twitch or pang, from the verb meaning to bind, as the feeling of a bandage drawn tight suddenly, and called it seldom used.^[17] The sense of striking survived in Scots and in northern and Midland dialects, where it also meant to push or drive briskly.^[21]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – to strike someone.^[2] The OED's first record is from about 1275.^[6]
• 1377 – to thrust or move hastily or roughly.^[6]
• before 1450 – to move suddenly, to rush.^[6]
• 1487 – noun, a sharp blow.^[6]
• 1545 – noun, a sudden movement or jerk.^[6]
• 1546 – to gibe at someone.^[6][13]
• 1566 – noun, a sharp or biting remark.^[6][13]
• 1573 – transitive, to sneer or scoff at.^[6]
• 1614 – noun, a sudden pang.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sneer or jeer, or make cutting remarks, usually with at: The columnist girded at the mayor's record.^[13][12][6]
2. To mock or scoff at someone.^[13][6]
3. (British dialect) To strike or smite.^[13][21]
4. (British dialect) To move quickly or energetically; to rush.^[13][6]

Noun

1. A sarcastic remark; a gibe.^[13][6][11]
2. (dialect) A sudden movement or jerk.^[6][21][11]
3. (dialect) A sudden pang.^[6][11]