guerdon

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The Word of the Day for November 3 is:=20

guerdon   \GUR-dun\   noun
          : reward, recompense

Example sentence:
          =E2=80=9CThis early promotion =E2=80=A6 was his guerdon for a =
quarter of a century of getting things done.=E2=80=9D (Herman Wouk, _The=
 Winds of War_)

Did you know?
          =E2=80=9CGuerdon=E2=80=9D dates back to the 14th century, when=
 Geoffrey Chaucer used it in _The Romaunt of the Rose_ (ca. 1366): =E2=80=
=9CHe quitte him wel his guerdon there.=E2=80=9D It derives from Anglo-F=
rench and is thought to be related to the Old High German =E2=80=9Cwidar=
lon,=E2=80=9D meaning =E2=80=9Creward.=E2=80=9D Shakespeare used =E2=80=9C=
guerdon=E2=80=9D a couple of times in his plays. In _Love=E2=80=99s Labo=
ur=E2=80=99s Lost_, for example, Berowne, attendant to King Ferdinand, s=
ends the clown Costard to deliver a letter to Rosaline, attendant to the=
 princess of France, handing him a shilling with the line, =E2=80=9CTher=
e=E2=80=99s thy guerdon; go.=E2=80=9D =E2=80=9CGuerdon=E2=80=9D is a rar=
e word today, but contemporary writers do use it on occasion for poetic =
effect.





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