sb. Obs. Forms: 1–2 eard, 2–4 erd(e, 3 ærd, ard, eærd, 3–4 herd, 4 ertd. [OE. eard masc. is cogn. w. OS. ard masc. ‘dwelling,’ OHG. art fem. ‘plowing,’ ON. örð fem. ‘harvest’:—OTeut. *ardu-z, ardâ, prob. f. WAryan root *ar to plow. For the sense cf. OE. búan to cultivate, inhabit.]
1. The land where one dwells; native land, home; a region, country.
Beowulf, 2654 (Gr.). We rondas beren eft to earde.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. ciii. 11 [civ. 12]. (Gr.). Ofer þan heofonfuʓelas healdað eardas.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 13. Eower burh heo forbernað … and eard heo amerrað.
c. 1205. Lay., 29175. Inne France wes his ærd.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 210. Paradis, An erd al ful of swete blis.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12382 (Cott.). Til þai had geten þair herd a-gain.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1808. I am here [on] an erande in erdez vncouþe.
2. In OE.: ? State, condition. Hence (in ME.), disposition, temper.
With the ME. use cf. MHG. art masc., fem. mod. G. art fem. ‘manner, disposition,’ which, however, Kluge regards as prob. of distinct etymology.
a. 1000. Hymns, vii. 97 (Gr.). Þar man us tyhhað on dæʓ tweʓen eardas. Drihtenes are oððe deofles þeowet.
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (A.), 2988. Wiþ þat come forþ an amireld, A Sarrazin of wicked erd.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 11973 (Fairf.). Ihesus þat was meke of erde kepped noȝt to make his moder ferde.
3. Comb. † erd-folk, people of the land.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1880. God sente on ðat erdfolc swilc dred.
