garðr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gardaz (“court, yard, enclosure”).

Cognate with Old English ġeard, Old Saxon gard, Old High German gart, Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃 (gards).

Pronunciation

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑrðr̩/

Noun

garðr m (genitive garðs, plural garðar)

1. a fence, wall
   • Grágás, in 1829, J. F. W. Schlegel, Hin forna lögbok islendinga sem nefnist Gragas, Volume II. Copenhagen, page 264:

     Ef þar er garðr of þioþbraut þvera, […]

     If there is a fence on a high road, […]

2. (especially in compounds) an enclosed space, yard
   • Konungs skuggsjá 10, in 1848, R. Keyser, P. R. Munch, C. R. Unger, Speculum regale. Konungs-skuggsjá. Konge-speilet. Christiania, page 23:

     […] heldr eru þeir reistir umhverfis kirkjuna við kirkjugarðinn, […]

     […] but rather set up around the church along the churchyard, […]

3. a courtyard, court
   • Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar 1, in 1835, F. Magnússon, C. C. Rafn, Fornmanna sögur, Volume X. Copenhagen, page 218:

     […] er hann com heim í þorpit, oc geck um garðinn, […]

     […] when he came home to the town and walked through the courtyard, […]

4. a house, dwelling
   • Egils saga 62, in 1809, Guðmundur Magnússon, Egils-saga: sive Egilli Skallagrimii vita. Copenhagen, page 407:

     Egill spurdi hvar garðr sá veri í borginni er Arinbiörn átti […]

     Egill asked where in the city was the house that Arinbjörn owned […]

5. (especially in compounds) a stronghold, castle, hold
   • Vǫluspá, verse 4, lines 3-4, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 1:

     […] þeir er miðgarð / mœran skópu; […]

     […] those who Middle-hold / mighty shaped' […]

Declension

  Declension of garðr (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	garðr	garðrinn	garðar	garðarnir
accusative	garð	garðinn	garða	garðana
dative	garði	garðinum	gǫrðum	gǫrðunum
genitive	garðs	garðsins	garða	garðanna

Derived terms

Terms derived from garðr

• aldingarðr (“garden”)
• Ásgarðr (“Asgard”)
• dýragarðr (“yard with wild beasts”)
• hagagarðr (“pasture fence”)
• heygarðr (“hay-yard”)
• Holmgarðaborg (“Novgorod”)
• Holmgarðaríki (“Novgorod land, Novgorodian Rus'”)
• Holmgarðr (“Novgorod”)
• Garðakonungr (“the king of Rus'”)
• garðaleiga (“house-rent”)
• Garðar (“Rus'”)
• Garðaríki (“Rus'”)
• garðasól (“orach”)
• Garðaveldi (“Rus'”)
• garðbót (“reparation of a fence”)
• garðbrjótr, garðbrytill (“fence-breaker”)
• garðbrot (“breach of a fence”)
• garðhlið (“gate”)
• garðhús (“privy”)
• garðhverfa (“fence, pinfold”)
• Garðkonungr (“the Greek emperor”)
• garðlag (“building of a fence”)
• garðlauss (“fenceless”)
• garðleiga (“house-rent”)
• garðrúm (“courtyard”)
• garðsaurr (“sewage”)
• garðsbóndi (“house-owner”)
• garðsendi (“end of a fence”)
• garðseti (“end of a hay-yard”)
• garðshlið (“gate”)
• garðshorn (“cottage”)
• garðshúsfreyja (“town-lady”)
• garðskipti (“partition by a fence”)
• garðskrókr (“fence-nook”)
• garðsrúst (“ruin of a fence”)
• garðsseti (“end of a hay-yard”)
• garðstaðr (“place of a fence”)
• garðstaurr (“fence-stake”)
• garðsveinn (“valet”)
• garðsǫnn (“season of fence-work”)
• garðtorfa (“slice of a turf”)
• garðvirki (“fencework materials”)
• garðvǫrðr (“overseer”)
• garðǫnn (“season of fence-work”)
• grasgarðr (“garden”)
• grjótgarðr (“stone fence”)
• hofgarðr (“lordly mansion”)
• kálgarðr (“kaleyard”)
• kirkjugarðr (“churchyard”)
• Kœnugarðr (“Kiev”)
• Miðgarðr (“Midgard, Earth”)
• Miklagarðr (“Constantinople”)
• Nogarðar (“Novgorod”)
• rifgarðr (“swathe”)
• salgarðr (“wall”)
• skíðgarðr (“rail fence”)
• stakkgarðr (“stackyard”)
• stíflugarðr (“ditch”)
• torfgarðr (“turf fence”)
• túngarðr (“town fence”)
• Útgarðr (“Utgard, Outer-hold”)
• víngarðr (“vineyard”)
• virkisgarðr (“castle wall”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: garður
• Faroese: garður
• Norn: gart
• Norwegian: gard; (dialectal) gard’e
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: gard
• Jamtish: gaoł
• Old Swedish: garþer, ᚵᛆᚱᚦᚽᚱ
  • Swedish: gård, gål
• Old Danish: garth
  • Danish: gård
    • Norwegian Bokmål: gård
• → Middle English: garth
  • English: garth
  • Scots: garthe (obsolete)
• → Middle Irish: garrda
  • Irish: garraí
  • Scottish Gaelic: gàrradh
• → Welsh: gardd

References

• garðr in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
• garðr in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.