lawn

Lawn, a stretch of mown grass, is an alteration of laund, a glade, from Old French; lawn, a fine linen, is probably named after Laon in France.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /lɔːn/, US /lɑːn/, /lɔːn/^[4]

lawn¹ grass

Etymology

It is an alteration of laund, launde, a glade or pasture (probably before 1300),^[1][2][5] borrowed from Old French lande (“heath, moor, clearing”),^[1][2] of Celtic origin, from Gaulish: compare Breton lann, heath, and Old Irish land, open space (see land).^[1][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

As laund, a glade, probably before 1300, in Arthour and Merlin;^[1] as laune, an open space between woods, 1548, the 1540s in Etymonline.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense of level grass kept mown is first recorded in 1733,^[1] the mid-18th century in the NODE and Word Origins.^[5][7] The older sense, a glade, is now archaic or dialectal.^[6][3] Lawn tennis is from 1874 and lawn mower from 1869.^[1]

Timeline

• before 1300 – launde, a glade.^[1]
• 1548 – laune, an open space.^[1]
• 1733 – mown grass.^[1]
• 1869 – lawn mower.^[1]
• 1874 – lawn tennis.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An area of short, mown grass, as round a house or in a park.
2. (archaic) A glade.

Word family

• lawn mower
• lawn tennis

lawn² linen

Etymology

It is probably from Laon, a city in northern France long a centre of linen manufacture,^[1][2][3][8] whose name is Old French Lan, from Latin Laudunum, of Celtic origin.^[2] For the spelling, compare fawn from French faon.^[2] Barnhart thinks the early form lawnd may come from confusion with launde, a glade.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fine linen like cambric: 1415 in the OED, 1416 in Barnhart.^[9][1]

Semantic evolution

Lawn sleeves (1630s) were part of a bishop's dress, and lawn came to stand for the office of bishop (before 1732).^[2][9] A fine sieve of silk or lawn is from 1853.^[9]

Timeline

• 1415 – fine linen.^[9]
• 1630s – lawn sleeves.^[2]
• before 1732 – a bishop's office.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A light, finely woven linen or cotton fabric.

Related words

• land

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press