Middle English Dictionary Entry
sward n.
Entry Info
| Forms | sward n. Also swarde, swarth(e, swarffe, swad, sard, sart, sarth(e, swerd(e & sworde, sworte & (in surname) swrd. |
| Etymology | OE sweard, swearð; cp. OI svörðr, (gen.) svarðar, (dat.) sverði. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Skin; also, the skin of cooked pork or bacon, rind; ~ of flesh; hed ~; (b) a patch of calloused skin; (c) a leather strap.
Associated quotations
a
- a1400 Gloss.Bibbesw.(Paris n.a. lat.699)p.96 : Le coan ad le bacoun [glossed:] swerde.
- c1400(?a1300) KAlex.(LdMisc 622)5940 : Caluz was his heuede swerd, And to his nauel henge his berd.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)482 : Swarde, or sworde [Win: Swad or sward], of flesche: Coriana.
- a1450 Hrl.Cook.Bk.(1) (Hrl 279)6 : Take otemele..an sethe it wyl, and porke þer-ynne, an pulle of þe swerde and pyke owt þe bonys.
- a1450 Hrl.Cook.Bk.(1) (Hrl 279)14 : Take Porke an seþe it wyl; þanne take it vppe and pulle a-way þe Swerde.
- a1500 Cmb.Diseases Horse (Cmb Ll.1.18)76 : For a strayt hove..Take halfe a libra off þe swordes off bacon and a quarter off a libra off white sope..and ley ham to hote.
b
- ?c1450 St.Cuth.(Eg 3309)2280 : For oft knelyng his knees boun, A grete swarth was on þaim groune.
c
- (1381) in Salzman Building in Engl.328 : [For 3 horse hides, curried..for making] swerdis..[for fat to grease the] swerd [for the ram].
2.
Turf, sod, grass-covered earth; grene ~, greensward.
Associated quotations
- c1300 SLeg.Magd.(2) (LdMisc 108)46 : Lazarus hadde þat haluen-del of al Ierusalem, Of wodes and fieldes and of sart al-mest to bedlehem.
- c1400 Gloss.Bibbesw.(Hrl 490)543 : Suarth [vrr. landschar, grene balke; glossing AF (Arun): choral; marg.: terail].
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)506 : Turfe, of flagge, swarde of þe erþe [Win: Turfe, flag, or sward of erth]: Cespes.
- (?1440) Palladius (DukeH d.2)1.58 : Fecundite se thus inwith thi londe: Se not the swerd [L gleba] al nakid, white, vnclene; Al chalk, or grauel.
- c1440(?a1400) Morte Arth.(1) (Thrn)1126 : He strykez Full egerly at Arthure and on the erthe hittez A swerde-lenghe within þe swarthe.
- c1440(?a1400) Morte Arth.(1) (Thrn)1466 : They..Swappez doun full sweperlye swelltande knynghtez, That all swellttez one swarthe.
- a1450 Desert Relig.(Add 37049)46 : In þis gastely foreste groves Trees..Sum to grove in gastely garthe And sum to grub awai with þe swarthe.
- ?a1450 Poem Hawking (Yale 163)589 : Ordeygne her ther-for twy or thry Rounde stones..Lay them a-forne her on a grene sward.
- ?a1450 Poem Hawking (Yale 163)601 : Thei must haue grene sward hem by-fore..There hem comforteth þat grene hue.
- (a1470) Malory Wks.(Win-C)203/15 : Than he rored and brayed and yet angurly he strykes, and fayled of sir Arthure, and the erthe hittis that he kutte into the swarffe a large swerde-length and more.
3.
Error for short adj.
Associated quotations
- a1475 Hrl.Bk.Hawking in Studia Neoph.169 : Ye shal say þis hath a large beke or a sworte [*Rwl.Bk.Hawking: shortt]..a huge hedde, or a smalle feire.
4.
In surnames.
Associated quotations
- (1216) Fine R.King John587 : Hugo de Dukeswrd.
- (1332) Sub.R.War.in Dugd.Soc.678 : John Attesard.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Delete c1300 SLeg. Magd. (2) from sense 2. It's already in sart n., and though the genre and date seem to fit better in sward n., the phonology is more likely to be sart n. Add the variants, sard, sart) if quot. is reprinted, and it would probably be best to move the second surname, too (1332 quot.). ?Perhaps say in sart n. that there may be some influence from sward n. For sense, cp. assart n.--per REL
Note: MED assart n. (a) A parcel of cleared land (as in a forest), a clearing; (b) a rent on such land.