Gower

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who cultivates and maintains plants, flowers, or vegetables in a garden or similar setting
2. Someone employed or skilled at the care and upkeep of growing plants and landscaping
3. One who plants, nurtures, and tends to the growth of vegetation in gardens or horticultural spaces

Etymology: The Gower peninsula, jutting into the Bristol Channel west of Swansea, takes its name from the Welsh "Gŵyr," whose meaning is uncertain. Some scholars link it to an old Brittonic root meaning "winding" or "crooked," which suits the coastline, but this remains a proposal rather than a settled fact. In 1956 the peninsula became the first place in Britain designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The surname most likely comes from the place, as many English surnames do, marking someone who came from or held land there. The best-known bearer is the poet John Gower (c.1330–1408), a contemporary of Chaucer who wrote in Latin, French and English. Chaucer addressed him as "moral Gower" in "Troilus and Criseyde," a tribute to his reputation for moral seriousness.