arbour, -or
(ˈɑːbə(r))
Forms: see under the separate senses.
[This word has undergone great change of form and signification. Orig. (h)erber, a. AF. (h)erber, OF. (h)erbier, a place covered with grass or herbage, a garden of herbs:—L. herbārium a collection of herbs, f. herba grass, herb: see -arium. Erber became arber by a change that was frequent with -er before a cons. (cf. harb, arb, yarb, obs. or dial. forms of herb itself; also arber, harbour, carve, starve, farm, etc., and the spoken forms of clerk, sergeant, Derby, Hertford, Cherwell); and arber was in 16th c. written arbour, -or, in accordance with the common scribal interchange of -er, -our, -or (cf. arbiter, -our, sailer, -our, -or).
These phonetic and graphic changes were facilitated by the change of sense, as the word ceased to be associated with herb; the final acceptance of arbour, arbor, was probably aided by the natural tendency to connect it with L. arbor tree, or It. arborata bower. Hence, from c 1550, there was a tendency to distinguish herbour and arbour, restricting the latter to senses 3, 5. Levins Manip. (1570) has ‘An Arboure, arboretum; an Herboure, viretum, herbaretum’; also, ‘Harboure, hospitium.’ This last word has also been supposed by some to have influenced the form of arbour; but of this there is no trace. Occasional instances of confusion between arbour and harbour are merely the mistakes of individuals.]
† 1. A plot of ground covered with grass or turf; a garden lawn, or ‘green.’ Forms: 4–5 erber(e, herber(e. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 9 Allas! I leste hyr in on erbere, Þurȝ gresse to grounde hit fro me yot. Ibid. A. 38, I entred in þat erber grene..57, I felle vpon þat floury flaȝt. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1773 Faste þar-by was he, Sittynge on a grene erber. c 1400 Rowland & Ot. 994 Greses broghte þat fre, Þat godd sett in his awenn herbere. a 1460 Medulla Gram., Viretum, locus pascualis virens, a gres-ȝerd, or an herber. |
† 2. A garden of herbs or flowers; a flower-garden; a flower-bed. Forms: 3–5 erber(e, 3–6 herber(e, 5 eerbir, erbare, 6 herbour. Obs.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 331 Herbes he tok in an herber, And stamped heom in a morter. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 280 Pride in pes es nettille in herbere, Þe rose is myghtles, þer nettille spredis ouer fer. c 1430 Hymns to Virg. (1867) 6 Marie þat art flour of alle, As roose in eerbir so reed! c 1435 Torr. Portugal 1968 Uppon the low..An erber wrought with mannus hond, With herbis that were good. c 1482 Caxton Vocab. Eng. & Fr. in Promp. Parv. 141 Richer the carter shall lede dong on my land whan it shall be ered, and on my herber [F. courtil = cottage garden] whan it shall be doluen. 1500 Ortus Vocab. in Promp. Parv. 141 Herbarium, an herber, vbi crescunt herbe, vel vbi habundant, or a gardyn. 1548 Hall Chron. Hen. VIII an. 14 in P.P. 141 A quadrant stage where on was an herber full of roses, lyllies, and all other flowers curiously wrought. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 656 She threw herself into a bed or herbour of prickley Roses. |
† 3. A garden of fruit-trees, an orchard. [Cf. orchard:—OE. wyrt-ᵹeard, i.e. herb-yard, and F. verger:—L. viridārium, i.e. a ‘green.’ Orchards were usually formed on grass.] Forms: 4–6 erber(e, herber(e, 5 erbor(e, 6 arbre, arber, arbour.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 15 Þat frute..groweth in a gardyne, þat god made hymseluen..Herte hatte þe herber [v.r. erber] þat it in groweth. a 1400 Thom. Erceldoune (1875) 177 Scho lede hym intill a faire herbere [v.r. erbore] Whare frute was growand gret plentee; Pere and appill, both ryppe þay were, The date, and als the damasee, etc. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle (1859) 63 He saw syttynge vnder an ympe [= sapling] in an herber, a wonder fayre damosel. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 28 In the garden, as i wene, Was an arber fayre and grene, And in the arber was a tre. 1580 Baret Alv. A 520 An arbour, Arboretum, Vne parc d'arbres, bocage. |
† 4. Trees or shrubs, such as the vine, trained on framework or trellis-work; espaliers. Forms: 5 erber, 6 herber, -or, -our, 6–7 harbour, arbour.
| 1428 in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 6 For costages of the gardyne 4s. 8d. and..for making of the Erber, carvyng newe railing off alle the vynes and gardyne {pstlg}8 8s. 7d. 1554 Acc. Edw. VI in Trevelyan Papers II. 15 Sir John Wulfe..deviser of the Kinges herbors & plantes of grafts. 1563 T. Hill Arte Garden. (1593) 13 The herbers either straight running vp, or else vaulted or close ouer the head, like to the vine herbers now a daies made. 1648 Gage West Ind. xviii. (1655) 113 Excellent grapes..not planted like vine⁓yards, but growing up in harbours. |
5. A bower or shady retreat, of which the sides and roof are formed by trees and shrubs closely planted or intertwined, or of lattice-work covered with climbing shrubs and plants, as ivy, vine, etc. Forms: 4–6 erber(e, herber(e, 5 herbier, erbor, arbre, 5–6 arber, 6 herbor, harber, herbour, arboure (all obs.), 6– arbour, arbor.
(The original characteristic of the ‘arbour’ seems to have been the floor and ‘benches’ of herbage; in the modern idea (since 16th c. at least) the leafy covering is the prominent feature.)
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 1768 In þe gardyn to pleie, To bi-hold þe estres & þe herberes so faire. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 203 A litel herber [Bodley MS. erber] that I have, That benched was on turves fressh ygrave. c 1400 Flower & Leaf 64 And shapin was this herber, rofe and all, As is a pretty parlour. [See the full description of this herber, with its close-shaven turf, thick hedge, etc.] 1460 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 56 In an herbier made ful plesantly Thei restid them. 1528 More Heresyes ii. Wks. 177/2 We walked into a gardine. And..sitting in an arber beganne to go forth in our matter. [Cf. 247/1 Sitting down in an herber.] 1549 Thomas Hist. Italie 6 Vnder the fresshe herbers, hedges and boowes..they triumph in as muche pleasure as maie be imagined. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 2 A goodlie Chase..beautified with manie delectabl, fresh and vmbragioous Boow[r]z, Arberz, Seatz, and walks. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 361 Sitting in an herbor. 1563 T. Hill Arte Garden. (1593) 161 You may make a couer ouer them like to an harbour. 1597 Morley Introd. Music 70 Go and sit in yonder shadie Arbor. 1598 Florio, Arborata, an arbor or bowre of boughs or trees. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 183 An Arbor, warm, and promising much Refreshing to the Pilgrims; for it was finely wrought above-head, beautified with Greens. 1817 Coleridge Sib. Leaves (1862) 224 Those hollies of themselves a shape As of an arbour took, A close, round arbour. 1823 J. Thacher Jrnl. Amer. Revol. 244 We erected a large arbor, with the boughs of trees. 1850 Layard Nineveh viii. 178 Upon carpets spread under an arbour, formed by a wide-spreading vine. 1873 Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 251 Pulled down earthward, pegged and picketed, By topiary contrivance, till the tree Became an arbour. |
† b. A shaded or covered alley or walk. Obs.
| 1573 Richmond. Wills & Inv. (1853) 234, I geve my soule unto Almightie God, and my bodye to be buried within y⊇ arbour on the north side off the churche of Richmonde. 1580 Baret Alv. A 521 An open galerie, arbour or walke, Paradromis. Ibid. A 523 A worke made of trees, bushes, bryers, or hearbes, with places to sitte and walke in for pleasure, as they now make arboures, Topiarium. 1590 Greene Arcadia (1616) 17 The mountaine tops shall be thy morning walke, and the shadie Vallies thy euenings Arbour. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 626 Yon flourie Arbors, yonder Allies green, Our walks at noon, with branches overgrown. 1712 Budgell Spect. No. 425 ¶1 A Wilderness parted into Variety of Allies and Arbours. |
6. Comb., as arbour-maker, arbour-wise.
| 1647 Haward Crown Rev. 27 Arbor-maker, and planter of Trees. 1548 Hall Chron. Hen. VIII an. 12 (1809) 611 On the Mountaigne [artificial] was a place Harber wise, where the Herauldes were. a 1687 Gookin Mass. Hist. Coll. I. 149 Wigwams, built with small poles fixed in the ground, bent and fastened together with barks of trees, oval or arbour-wise on the top. |