Wyrtgeard

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An Old English term for an enclosed plot of ground where herbs and vegetables were grown
2. A walled or fenced patch of land used in early England to cultivate medicinal and culinary plants
3. The historical name for a cultivated yard set aside for growing herbs, pot herbs and other plants

Etymology: Wyrtgeard was an Old English compound of "wyrt", meaning plant or herb, and "geard", meaning enclosed ground. Together they named a walled plot where herbs and vegetables were grown, a kitchen garden. "Wyrt" survives today in the ending of "mugwort", "St John's wort" and "liverwort", while "geard" lives on as "yard" and "garth", a monastic cloister garden. The surprise lies in "geard". It is a cousin of Latin "hortus", "garden", and both trace back to a shared ancient root meaning an enclosure. Old English borrowed "hortus" directly as "ort", and "orchard" comes from the compound "ortgeard", so the word was in circulation as a fruit garden well before "orchard" settled into its modern form. Wyrtgeard itself fell out of use in the Middle English period, and the Old English texts that record it are its only real witnesses.