guerdon

noun

guer·​don ˈgər-dᵊn 

: reward, recompense

guerdon transitive verb

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Guerdon and Shakespeare

Guerdon dates back to the 14th century, when Geoffrey Chaucer used it in The Romaunt of the Rose (ca. 1366): "He quitte him wel his guerdon there." It derives from Anglo-French and is thought to be related to the Old High German widarlōn, meaning "reward." Shakespeare used guerdon a couple of times in his plays. In Love's Labour's Lost, for example, Berowne, attendant to King Ferdinand, sends the clown Costard to deliver a letter to Rosaline, attendant to the princess of France, handing him a shilling with the line, "There's thy guerdon; go." Guerdon is a rare word today, but contemporary writers do use it on occasion for poetic effect.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English gerdoun, guerdoun, borrowed from Anglo-French gueredun, guerdun (also continental Old French), going back to Old Low Franconian *wiđarlōn (attested as withirlon, translating Late Latin retribūtiō in the Wachtendonck Psalms), from *wiđar- "against, back" (going back to Germanic *wiþra-, whence also Old English wiþer- "against, in return") + *lōn "reward, recompense," replaced in Gallo-Romance by Latin dōnum "gift, offering, benefit"; *lōn going back to Germanic *launa- (whence Old English lēan "recompense, reward," Old Frisian lān, Old Saxon & Old High German lōn, Old Icelandic & Gothic laun), derivative with the suffix *-no- from the Indo-European verbal base *leh₂u- "seize, capture" — more at with, donation, lucre

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for guerdon

• anton
• argon
• axon
• baronne
• baryon
• baton
• boron
• buisson
• bygone
• capon
• cardon
• chiffon

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