Saunder

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name, a variant spelling of Saunders, borne by people with ancestral ties to the name
2. An English surname derived from the given name Alexander, carried by various families over the centuries
3. A surname of medieval origin, a variant form of Saunders used by some families in England and beyond

Etymology: The word traces back to Sanskrit "candana", which passed through Greek and Medieval Latin, reaching Old French as "sandle" and "saundre". English borrowed it in the Middle Ages, and it came to name the fragrant heartwood of the sandalwood tree, which was prized across Asia and Europe for incense and carving. The form "saunder" is rare. The plural "saunders" is the one usually found in medieval and early modern records, and it was applied to a different tree as well: red sanders, a species whose wood yields a deep red dye. Writers often used the two terms loosely, so a reader of an older text may need to judge from context which wood is meant.