English
laird
Laird comes from Old French lard ‘a cut of meat from a pig’, and goes back to Latin lārdum ‘bacon fat, lard’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElārdumas lāridum‘bacon fat, lard’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400lard‘a cut of meat from a pig’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘Other fatty cured meat’
- Scotsc. 1450–presentlaird‘a lord or land owner’
- Englishearliest quotation 1712same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElārdumas lāridum‘bacon fat, lard’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400lard‘a cut of meat from a pig’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘Other fatty cured meat’
- Scotsc. 1450–presentlaird‘a lord or land owner’
- Englishearliest quotation 1712same form
Earliest quotation: 1712, William Mitchel, The Tinklars Speech to the Most Loyal Country-man: “Now Wiſe, and Rich, and Worthie, and Wonderful, and…”
The story
The noun is borrowed from Scots laird, from northern or Scottish Middle English lard, laverd, a variant of lord.
Linked words
through Middle English lard ‘Other fatty cured meat’
Today it means
noun A feudal lord in Scottish contexts.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin lārdum / laird