larboard

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ladde-bord, also lade-bord, latheborde and latebord,^[2][3][4][5] altered in the 16th century under the influence of starboard.^[3][6][7][8] The second element is board in the sense "ship's side",^[3][9][6] from Old English bord, compare Old Norse borði.^[9] The OED says that the origin of the first element has not been determined.^[3][10] Many dictionaries suggest that it is laden (“to load”), making this "the loading side", on which cargo was taken in;^{[6][11][4][5][9][8][7][12]} Hoad, the American Heritage Dictionary and the Shorter Oxford offer this as only possible.^[9][11][5] The Middle English Dictionary tentatively compares leden (“to lead”) instead, the side "led" behind the steersman.^[2] Skeat left the word unexplained, noting that it resembles Swedish ladda (“to lade”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The left side of a ship, for someone looking from stern to bow: about 1400 in Patience, a text perhaps composed about 1380, "Þay layden in on ladde-borde".^[3][2] Barnhart also dates it to about 1380;^[7] Etymonline gives about 1300 for the Middle English form^[6] and Dictionary.com 1300–50.^[14]

Semantic evolution

Old English called this side bæcbord (“back board”), which did not survive into Middle English, though the same word lives on in the continental Germanic languages and passed into French bâbord.^[3][6][15] The OED explains it as the side behind the steersman, since the steering paddle of early Germanic ships was worked over the right side.^[3] The word was also an adjective from 1495^[3][7] and, for a time, a nautical command (1647–74).^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it plainly, quoting Milton and Dryden.^[16] Its likeness to starboard caused its decline, because the two were easily confused when shouted aloud,^[10][6] and port largely replaced it;^[6][10][15] Smyth's Sailor's Word-Book of 1867 reports that this was done by order of the Admiralty.^[17] Collins calls it a former word,^[18] the Shorter Oxford archaic^[5] and Chambers obsolete.^[19] In 1781 Cowper used it humorously for "left".^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – the left side of a ship, spelled ladde-borde.^[3][2] Barnhart dates the form to about 1380.^[7]
• 1495 – adjective, on the left side of a ship.^[3][7][5]
• 1580s – respelled after starboard, as lerbord and larborde.^[6][7]
• 1647 – adverb, to the left, as a nautical command (obsolete by 1674).^[3]
• 1781 – humorously, left.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical, archaic) The port side of a ship; the left side for someone on board facing the bow; the opposite of starboard.^{[4][18][5][3]}

Adjective

1. (nautical, archaic) On or belonging to the port side of a ship: the larboard rail.^{[4][18][5][3]}

Related words

• starboard
• board
• lade
• port

Usage notes

Smyth reported that Italians derived starboard from questa borda, "this side", and larboard from quella borda, "that side".^[17]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
15. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ a b Smyth, W. H. (1867), The Sailor's Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, London: Blackie and Son
18. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
19. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers