The story
- Middle English · derived fromlard
- Scots · borrowed fromlaird
- English todaylaird
The noun is borrowed from Scots laird, from northern or Scottish Middle English lard, laverd, a variant of lord. The verb is derived from the noun. Doublet of hlaford and lord.
Words from the same roots
Middle Englishlard all →
lard
First known use, by meaning
- from 14th c. A feudal lord in Scottish contexts.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.