n.
1. A portion of ground covered with grass.
2. The grassy surface of land.
Truth time – I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t know this word three years ago. The first time I came across it in a Conan story, I did a double take, wondering if it was a typo. But I think it’s just that this one has fallen out of common use in scifi/fantasy stories, and I don’t know why. It’s so useful!
That stretch of short grass in front of the castle, or maybe in the courtyard – sward!
I guess you could go with “sod” or “turf,” but how much cooler is it to have your hero charging the green stretch of sward to meet his foes?
Etymologically, “sward” seems to derive from the Old English sweard, meaning “skin,” which traces back to the old Germanic idea of grass as the “skin” of the earth.
Taking what looked like a copper tube from his girdle, the Nemedian dropped lightly to the sward inside the wall. Conan was close behind him, sword ready, but Taurus pushed him back, close to the wall, and showed no indication to advance, himself. His whole attitude was of tense expectancy, and his gaze, like Conan’s, was fixed on the shadowy mass of shrubbery a few yards away.
– Robert E. Howard, “The Tower of the Elephant” (1933)
I just came across this one recently. Maybe that Solomon Kane story I just read?
It’s another of Howard’s regular words! After I learned it, I started noticing it in other old stories..
I thought this was just the word “sword” said with a funny northern British accent…