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Sep 3, 2004
This week's theme
Words that are also names

This week's words
alexia
julienne
tommyrot
merry-andrew
garth

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

garth

Pronunciation RealAudio

garth (garth) noun

A small yard surrounded by a cloister. Also known as cloister garth.

[From Middle English, from Old Norse (garthr) yard. Ultimately from Indo-European root gher- (to enclose or grasp) that is also the ancestor of such words as court, orchard, kindergarten, French jardin (garden), choir, courteous, Hindi gherna (to surround), yard, and horticulture.]

"The St. Joseph's Abbey bell tower dominates the view looking out across the garth."
Bradford L. Miner; Heeding the Call Abbey Opens Doors to Prospective Monks; Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts); Mar 11, 2001.

"In this respect it might be noted that in 1457 the Westminster cloister garth was scythed three times, giving some indication that grass would have been able to grow to some considerable length."
Jan Woudstra and James Hitchmough; The Enamelled Mead; Landscape Research (Abingdon, UK); Mar 2000.

X-Bonus

I and the public know / What all schoolchildren learn, / Those to whom evil is done / Do evil in return. -W.H. Auden, poet (1907-1973)

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