Weardere

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who guards, watches over, or keeps charge of something, as a keeper or warden of a place or property
2. Someone entrusted with protecting or keeping watch over a thing, much like a guardian or sentinel
3. A keeper or watchman whose duty is to guard a person, place, or object from harm or intrusion

Etymology: Weardere is an Old English word meaning "guardian" or "keeper," formed from "weard," a guard or watch, with the agent suffix "-ere," the same ending found in "bæcere," "baker." Old English texts use it for someone whose job is to watch over people, places, or things, so the word describes a role rather than a feeling of protection. Its modern descendant is "warder," which came into Middle English as a noun and has kept the sense of a keeper of prisoners. The Yeoman Warders at the Tower of London, the ceremonial figures often called Beefeaters, still carry the title. The same Germanic root also gave English "ward" and, through Norman French, "guard." These are doublets: one word came straight down through Old English, while the other was borrowed from French and reshaped in English.