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Origin and history of border

border(n.)

mid-14c., bordure, in heraldry, "broad, colored band surrounding the shield," from Old French bordeure "seam, edge of a shield, border," from Frankish *bord or a similar Germanic source (compare Old English bord "side;" see board (n.2)). The form of the ending changed after c. 1500. Italian and Spanish bordo also are from Germanic.

From late 14c. as "edge, side, brink, margin," also "ornamental border along the edge of a dish, garment, etc." The sense of "boundary of a city or country" is from late 14c. From c. 1400 as "border region, district lying along the boundary of a country" (replacing earlier march). In U.S. history, "the line between the wild and settled regions of the country" (1827).

border(v.)

c. 1400, "to put a border on;" 1530s as "to lie on the border of," from border (n.). Related: Bordered; bordering.

also from c. 1400

Entries linking to border

board(n.2)

"side of ship," Old English bord "border, rim, ship's side," from Proto-Germanic *burdan (source also of Old Frisian bord, Old Saxon bord, Dutch boord "border, edge, ship's side," German Bord "margin, border," Old High German bart, Old Norse barð "margin, shore, ship-board"), perhaps from the same source as board (n.1), but not all sources accept this. Connected to border; see also starboard.

If not etymologically related to board (n.1), the two forms represented in English by these words were nonetheless confused at an early date in most Germanic languages, a situation made worse in English because this Germanic word also was adopted in Medieval Latin as bordus (source of Italian and Spanish bordo) and entered Old French as bort "beam, board, plank; side of a ship" (12c., Modern French bord), via either Medieval Latin or Frankish. It came into English with the Normans to mingle with its native cousins. By now the senses are inextricably tangled. Some etymology dictionaries treat them as having been the same word all along.

To go by the board originally was "fall overboard" (1757), of a mast, etc., hence, generally, "be completely lost or destroyed" (1835). To be on board is from c. 1500, originally nautical, "close alongside;" then, less technically, "on the ship" (1708), perhaps by influence of aboard, or from the noun in the sense "plank;" subsequently extended to trains, planes, general situations.

bordering(n.)

"material for a border of any kind," 1872, verbal noun from border (v.).

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More to explore

march
"to walk with measured steps or a regular tread," either individually or as a body, early 15c., from Old French marcher "to stride, march, walk," originally "to trample, tread underfoot," a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Frankish *markon or some other Germanic source rela
bound
"to leap, spring upward, jump," 1590s, from French bondir "to rebound, resound, echo," from Old French bondir "to leap, jump, rebound;" originally "make a noise, sound (a horn), beat (a drum)," 13c., ultimately "to echo back," from Vulgar Latin *bombitire "to buzz, hum" (see bomb
list
"catalogue consisting of names in a row or series," c. 1600, from Middle English liste "border, edging, stripe" (late 13c....), from Old French liste "border, band, row, group," also "strip of paper," or from Old Italian lista "border, strip of...paper, list," both from Germanic sources (compare Old High German lista "strip, border, list," Old Norse lista "border, selvage...," Old English liste "border of cloth, fringe"), from Proto-Germanic *liston, from PIE *leizd- "border, band."...
rand
," from Proto-Germanic *randaz "edge, rim, crust" (source also of Old English rand "brink, bank," Old High German rant "border...or rim of a shield," German Rand "edge, border, margin," Old Norse rönd "shield-rim, shield," Swedish rand "stripe, edge...Johnson's dictionary has rand "Border; seam: as the rand of a woman's shoe."...The Old English cognate survived into Middle English as rand "strip or border of land."...
confines
c. 1400, "boundary, border, frontier, limit" (usually plural), from Old French confins "boundaries," from Medieval Latin...confines "a border, boundary," from Latin confinium (plural confinia) "boundary, limit," from confine, neuter of confinis...As "the part of a territory which is near the border" (as in Dryden's "Betwixt the confines of the Night and Day") is from...
render
late 14c., rendren, rendre, "repeat, say again, recite; translate," from Old French rendre "give back, present, yield" (10c.) and Medieval Latin rendere, from Vulgar Latin *rendere, a variant of Latin reddere "give back, return, restore," from red- "back" (see re-) + combining fo
adjoin
c. 1300, "unite (something to something else), ally" (a sense now obsolete); late 14c. as "be contiguous with, be adjacent to," from Old French ajoin- stem of ajoindre "join together, unite," from Latin adiungere "fasten on, harness, join to," from ad "to" (see ad-) + iungere "to
grin
Old English grennian "show the teeth" (in pain or anger), common Germanic (cognates: Old Norse grenja "to howl," grina "to grin;" Dutch grienen "to whine;" German greinen "to cry"), from PIE root *ghrei- "be open." Sense of "bare the teeth in a broad smile" is late 15c., perhaps

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