Gardener

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɡɑɹd.n̩.ɚ/

Definitions

1. A person who tends to, cultivates, and maintains plants, flowers, and vegetables in a garden or similar outdoor space
2. An individual engaged in the care, cultivation, and management of plants, flowers, and vegetables in a garden or landscaped area
3. A caretaker responsible for the growth, upkeep, and nurturing of various plants, including flowers and vegetables, within a garden setting

Etymology: The most striking fact here is that English once had its own word for this job, and lost it. Old English speakers called a gardener a "wyrtweard," literally "wort-ward," combining "wyrt" (a plant or herb) with "weard" (a guardian or keeper, the same root behind "ward" and "warden"). The word was a plain description: someone who kept watch over plants. Over the Middle Ages it was pushed out by "gardener," which came into Middle English from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French "gardinier," a form built on the same "garden" that gave English the word for an enclosed plot of ground. The French side is the source of the displacement, and the connection to "garden" shows the new word described the place as much as the person. Anglo-Norman speakers had their own gardin, so the agent word followed the ground rather than the plants. German offers a parallel: "Gärtner," built from "Garten" (garden) plus the agent suffix "-er," follows the same logic. Both languages settled on naming the worker after the enclosure rather than the greenery inside it.

Synonyms: horticulturist, landscaper, cultivator, grower, farmer