Etymograph

English

arbor

Arbor comes from Old French erbier ‘field, meadow, kitchen garden’, from erbe ‘grass, herb’, and ultimately from Latin herba.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEherba‘grass, herb’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400erbe‘grass, herb’
  3. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400erbier‘field, meadow, kitchen garden’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500arbour
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1960arbor

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEherba‘grass, herb’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400erbe‘grass, herb’
  3. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400erbier‘field, meadow, kitchen garden’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500arbour
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1960arbor

Earliest quotation: 1960, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird: “Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we…”

The story

From Middle English arbour, erbour, from Old French erbier (‘field, meadow, kitchen garden’), from erbe (‘grass, herb’), from Latin herba (‘grass, herb’) (English herb). (Compare Late Latin herbārium, although erbier is possibly an independent formation.) The spelling was influenced by Latin arbor (‘tree’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- ‘to grow, become green’

green, grow, grass, groom, gourmet, graze, greedily, ambergris, yerba, 16 more

through Latin herba ‘grass, herb’

herbaceous, herbivore, herbivorous, 3 more

through Old French erbe ‘grass, herb’

herb

Another origin of arbor

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃erdʰ-‘high’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃r̥dʰōsreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*arðōs‘tree’reconstructed
  4. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEarbōs
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEarbor‘a tree’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400arbre
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘tree, axis’
  8. Englishtodayarbor

Borrowed from French arbre (‘tree, axis’), spelling influenced by Latin arbor (‘tree’).

Today it means

noun A shady sitting place or pergola usually in a park or garden, surrounded by climbing shrubs, vines or other vegetation.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin herba / arbor

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