Etymologically
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garder

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɡaʁ.de/[1]

Forms

garder[1] Old French guarder, Picard and Walloon warder.[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French guarder, from Germanic borrowed from Frankish *wardōn (“to look towards; to watch over”), reconstructed from Old High German wartēn (“to watch; to beware”), Middle High German “warten” “to look at; to take care of” and Middle Dutch “waerden” “to watch over”; compare German warten and English ward.[3][4][5][6][1] Wiktionary gives the Early Medieval Latin form wardō.[1] The Germanic base “*war-” “to be attentive” is connected by Rey and the Petit Robert with an Indo-European root also seen in Ancient Greek ὁράω (horáō, “to see”) and Latin vereor (“to fear, respect”); garer, garnir and guérir belong to the same Germanic family.[3][7]

Cognate with Italian guardare, Occitan gardar, Spanish guardar and Portuguese guardar.[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 10th century in the Passion of Clermont in the sense “to look at”, a sense that French, unlike the other Romance languages, has lost.[8][3]

Semantic evolution

“To look at” was taken over by esgarder (see égard) and then by regarder.[3] In the Vie de saint Léger (second half of the 10th century) se garder meant “to be on one's guard” towards God, garder “to take care of” a person is in the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050), and of animals in Wace (about 1145).[8] It meant guarding a prisoner in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), whence garder à vue (1690), and guarding a place against entry (about 1130).[8][3]

The sense “to put aside, keep in reserve” is found about 1135, “to keep (a vow, one's faith)” about 1145, and “to keep (perishable goods) in good condition” in 1334.[8] Garder la chambre and garder le lit are in Jean de Meun (1269–1278), and se garder de “to beware of” in Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165).[8]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Garder “to look at”, in the Passion of Clermont.[8]
  • c. 1050 – “To take care of”, in the Vie de saint Alexis.[8]
  • c. 1100 – Guarding a prisoner, in the Chanson de Roland.[8]
  • c. 1135 – “To put aside, keep”.[8]
  • c. 1165 – Se garder de “to beware of”.[8]
  • 1255 – Gardien.[4]
  • 1269–1278 – Garder la chambre in Jean de Meun.[8]
  • 1334 – “To keep (food) from spoiling”.[8]
  • 1690 – Garder à vue.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To look after, take care of: garder des enfants, garder un troupeau.[7]
  2. To guard, watch over a person or place; to keep a prisoner: garder à vue.[1][7]
  3. To keep, hold on to; to put aside, save: garder une place, garder le silence.[1][8]
  4. To keep in good condition, preserve: garder des fruits.[8]
  5. To stay in: garder la chambre, garder le lit.[8]
  6. Se garder de: to beware of, take care not to.[1][8]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  3. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 510a
  7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard