eard

See also: 'eard

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *ard, from Proto-Germanic *ardiz, *arduz, *arþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”).

Cognate with Old Saxon ard, Old High German art (German Art). The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin arō, Ancient Greek ἀρόω (aróō), Old East Slavic орати (orati), Russian ора́ть (orátʹ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æ͜ɑrd/, [æ͜ɑrˠd]

Noun

eard m

1. homeland, native soil; one's home, a dwelling

   Ðis is mīn āgen ēþel, eard, and land

   This is my own country, home and land.

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "On the Greater Litany"

     Wē sind eall cuman on þissum līfe, and ūre eard nis nā hēr, ac wē sind hēr swelċe weġfērende menn. Ān cymþ, ōðer færeþ. Sē biþ ācenned, sē ōðer forþfæreþ and rȳmþ him setl.

     We are all guests in this life, and our home is not here, but we're here as wayfaring people. One person comes, another goes. One is born, another dies and makes them room.

2. earth, land
3. state; station; condition; fate

Declension

Declension of eard (strong u-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	eard	earda
accusative	eard	earda
genitive	earda	earda
dative	earda	eardum

Related terms

• eardian
• erian

Descendants

• Middle English: art
  • Scots: airt
  • Yola: ete
• Middle English: erd, ard, arde, urde
  • English: erd (in part)

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English earþe, from Old English earþe, from Proto-West Germanic *erþu.

Noun

eard

1. Alternative form of erth

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 38