gladdon Now chiefly dial.
(glæd(ə)n)
Forms: 1 gladinæ, glædene, 3–5 gladene, 5 gladyne, (-yyn), -one, 6 gladin, -yn, -on, 7–8 gladwin(e, (9 -wyn), 8 glader, 6– gladen, gladdon, 8– gladden.
[Of obscure etymology; Pogatscher regards it as prob. a. popular L. *gladīna, altered form of L. gladiolus ‘sword-lily’ (Lewis & Sh.), dim. of gladius sword, from the shape of the leaves.
The form glader which appears in various dicts. of the 18th c. (Phillips, Johnson, etc.) may have been originally due to a misprint.]
1. A popular name of the iris (Iris Pseudacorus and Iris fœtidissima; the latter is sometimes distinguished as ‘stinking gladdon’). corn-gladdon (quot. 1666) = corn-flag.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 920 Scilla, gladinae. a 800 Corpus Gloss. 1815 Scilla, glædine. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 144 Wið wæter seocnysse ᵹenim þas wyrte þe man bulbi scillitici & oðrum naman glædene nemneð. c 1265 Voc. Plants in Wr.-Wülcker 556/15 Gladiolum, flamine, gladene. a 1400–50 Alexander 4094 A dryi meere Was full of gladen & of gale & of grete redis. c 1450 M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 155 Take þe rote of gladene & make pouder þer of. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 11 Thinges good for a colde head..Galingale..Gladen. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 23 Iris..hath leaues like vnto the herbe called Gladiolus, that is to saye, the gladdon or swerdlynge. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden xxxiii. 67 Gladwin which is a kind hereof [Flower de Luce]. 1666 J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isl. 58 Leaves..pointed at the extremity, as those of Corn-Gladen. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 69 Thirty grains of powder'd Root of Gladwin. 1800 Sir J. E. Smith Flora Brit. I. 42 Iris fœtidissima..Stinking Iris, or Gladwyn. 1829 Glover Hist. Derby I. 106 Iris fœtidissima, stinking gladdon. 1897 Willis Flower. Pl. II. 201 Iris Pseudacorus L. the yellow flag, and Iris foetidissima L., the gladdon. |
2. (See quots.)
| 1787 W. Marshall Norfolk (1795) II. 380 Gladdon, or Gladden, Typha latifolia and angustifolia, large and small cats-tail. 1895 E. Angl. Gloss., Gladden, or gladden bushes, bulrushes. |
3. attrib., as gladdon-bed, gladdon leaf.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 99 The Gladen leafe is like a sword blade indeed, and keen-edged according to the name. 1889 P. H. Emerson Eng. Idyls 5 Ellen, lulled by the melodies in the gladen-beds, sat staring at her float. |