jardiniere (2009-10-04)

Part of Speech: Noun

Pronunciation: [zhar-dn-'eer or jar-dn-'eer]

Definition: (1) A decorative container for plants or flowers; (2) a stand or box for plants or flowers, such as a window box; (3) diced fresh vegetables served as an accompaniment to meat, as a jardiniere soup.

Usage: As the definition of today's word indicates, we have not decided exactly what it will mean in English—something that holds flowers, "All the jardinieres Marjorie puts her flowers in seem to have it in for her: her plants never survive." Until we do decide precisely what this word means, continue to use the third meaning above: "Lucy served her rack of lamb with a fresh jardiniere from her own garden."

Suggested Usage: Today's word is so fresh from French that most dictionaries insist that you use the diacritic above the penultimate [e]: "jardinière." We believe that we should maintain the pretense that we speak a different language and omit the diacritics from the French words we nick.

Etymology: So what do girdles have to do with gardens? Always ask your neighborhood etymologist—he will tell you that they reflect the same basic concept. Today's word comes straight from French jardinière "(female) gardener," taken from jardin "garden." Both "jardin" and "garden" go back to Proto-Indo-European *gherdh- "enclosure, fence." (Getting the picture?) The enclosure concept emerged in the Slavic languages as Russian gorod "city," which was "grad," as in "Leningrad" and "Volgograd," back when cities were girdled with defensive walls. Serbian ograda "fence" refers to something like a garden girdle. Well, almost.