Etymology

Gerard

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Today it means: A male given name from the Germanic languages. Full definition →

Middle English Gerard ← Old French Gerart ← Frankish *Gaiʀahard
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰey-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰeys-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰoysós
  4. Proto-Germanic*gaizaz
  5. Proto-West Germanic*gaiʀ
  6. Proto-Indo-European*kret-der.?
  7. Proto-Germanic*harduz
  8. Proto-West Germanic*hard(ī)
  9. Frankish*Gaiʀahard
  10. Old FrenchGerart
  11. Middle EnglishGerard
  12. English todayGerard

From Middle English Gerard, from Old French Gerart, from Frankish *Gaiʀahard, from *gaiʀ (“spear”) + *hard(ī) (“hard, brave”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.