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Origin and history of award

award(v.)

late 14c., awarden, "decide after careful observation," from Anglo-French awarder, from Old North French eswarder (Old French esgarder) "decide, judge, give one's opinion" (after careful consideration), from es- "out" (see ex-) + warder "to watch," a word from Germanic (see ward (n.)). Related: Awarded; awarding.

award(n.)

late 14c., award, "decision after consideration," from Anglo-French award, Old French esgard, from esgarder (see award (v.)). The meaning "something awarded" is attested from 1590s.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to award

ward(n.)

Middle English ward "keeping, care, safekeeping," also "control, rule, proper preservation," from Old English weard "a guarding, protection; watchman, sentry, keeper," from Proto-Germanic *wardaz "guard" (source also of Old Saxon ward, Old Norse vörðr, Old High German wart), from suffixed form of PIE root *wer- (3) "perceive, watch out for." A doublet of guard (n.); for the consonant see gu-. Paired with watch (n.) from late 14c. Related: Wardship.

The meaning "minor under control of a guardian" is from early 15c. In reference to administrative districts of a town or city from late 14c., at first with a notion of guardianship, "a division of the people under a particular leader or guardian." Of hospital divisions from 1749.

The political ward-heeler is by 1873, American English, from heeler "loafer, one on the lookout for shady work" (1870s).

ex-

word-forming element, in English meaning usually "out of, from," but also "upwards, completely, deprive of, without," and "former;" from Latin ex "out of, from within; from which time, since; according to; in regard to," from PIE *eghs "out" (source also of Gaulish ex-, Old Irish ess-, Old Church Slavonic izu, Russian iz). In some cases also from Greek cognate ex, ek. PIE *eghs had comparative form *eks-tero and superlative *eks-t(e)r-emo-. Often reduced to e- before -b-, -d-, -g-, consonantal -i-, -l-, -m-, -n-, -v- (as in elude, emerge, evaporate, etc.).

*wer-(3)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "perceive, watch out for."

It might form all or part of: Arcturus; avant-garde; award; aware; beware; Edward; ephor; garderobe; guard; hardware; irreverence; lord; panorama; pylorus; rearward; regard; revere; reverence; reverend; reward; software; steward; vanguard; ward; warden; warder; wardrobe; ware (n.) "manufactured goods, goods for sale;" ware (v.) "to take heed of, beware;" warehouse; wary.

It might also be the source of: Latin vereri "to observe with awe, revere, respect, fear;" Greek ouros "a guard, watchman," horan "to see;" Hittite werite- "to see;" Old English weard "a guarding, protection; watchman, sentry, keeper."

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    Trends of award

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    prize
    "that which is obtained or offered as the reward of exertion or contest; reward or symbol of victory," spelling alteration of Middle English prise (c. 1300 in this sense), from Old French pris "price, value, worth; reward" (see price (n.)). Figuratively, "anything worth striving
    accolade
    1620s, "an embrace about the neck then the tapping of a sword on the shoulders to confer knighthood," from French accolade "an embrace, a kiss" (16c.), from Provençal acolada or Italian accollata, ultimately from noun use of a fem. past participle of Vulgar Latin *accollare "to e
    honor
    c. 1200, onur, "glory, renown, fame earned," from Anglo-French honour, Old French onor, honor "honor, dignity, distinction, position; victory, triumph" (Modern French honneur), from Latin honorem (nominative honos, the form used by Cicero, but later honor) "honor, dignity, office
    addicted
    The sense of "dependent" (1560s) is reflexive, "self-addicted," from the notion of "give over or award (oneself) to someone...
    adjudge
    " (Modern French adjuger; the -d- was restored 14c. and English followed suit by 16c.), from Latin adiudicare "grant or award...
    addiction
    (nominative addictio) "an awarding, a delivering up," noun of action from past-participle stem of addicere "to deliver, award...
    assignation
    assigning, allotment," noun of action from past-participle stem of assignare/adsignare "to mark out, to allot by sign, assign, award...
    commendation
    late 14c., commendacioun, "expression of approval," late 14c. (from c. 1200 as the name of one of the Offices of the Dead), from Old French commendacion "approval, praise," from Latin commendationem (nominative commendatio) "recommendation, commendation," noun of action from past
    citation
    c. 1300, "summons, written notice to appear," from Old French citation or directly from Latin citationem (nominative citatio) "a command," noun of action from past participle stem of citare "to summon, urge, call; put in sudden motion, call forward; rouse, excite" (see cite). Mea
    scholarship
    1530s, "status of a scholar," from scholar + -ship. The meaning "learning, erudition, character and qualities of a scholar" is from 1580s; the sense of "source of funds for support or maintenance of a scholar" is from 1580s. Other nouns in similar senses are or were scholardom "t

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