The story
- Medieval Latin · derived fromwiderdōnum
- Old French · derived fromguerdon
- Middle English · inherited fromguerdon
- English todayguerdon
From Middle English guerdon, guerdoun, gardone, from Old French guerdon, guerredon, guarredon, werdon, from Medieval Latin widerdōnum, alteration of widerlōnum, from West Germanic (whence Old High German widarlōn, Old English wiþerlēan), literally ‘back-payment’, with the second element assimilated to Latin dōnum (“gift”). Cognate with Italian guiderdone.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.