gʰerd-
“to enclose, to gird”enclose, fence, yard
Root for enclosing, yielding English yard, garden, gird, Latin hortus, Greek khortos.
Discussion
The Proto-Indo-European root *gʰerd- meant "to enclose" or "to gird." The Germanic reflexes preserve the root with exceptional clarity. English gird and girdle descend from Proto-Germanic *gurdjan. Garden comes through Frankish *gardō, "enclosure." Yard, from Old English geard, meant simply "enclosure" before it narrowed to the domestic plot. These words preserve the root's concrete meaning: to draw a line around a piece of earth and claim it for human purpose. The classical languages shifted the scale. Latin hortus, "garden," gave English horticulture. Greek khortos meant "enclosure," and Latin borrowed the derivative cohors, originally meaning "farmyard enclosure," then "a group of people enclosed together," then a military cohort. From cohors came Old French cort, giving English court — transforming the farmyard fence into the royal enclosure where justice was administered. Watkins traces this trajectory from fence to court as one of the great social metaphors in Indo-European: the king's court is simply the grandest of all enclosed yards, and courtesy is the behavior appropriate within that enclosure. The root captures a foundational moment in human civilization: the act of enclosing space, which is simultaneously the birth of the garden, the yard, the court, and the concept of property itself.
Notes
Pokorny 442-444. English yard, garden, orchard, court, cohort.