Gaard: from enclosures to courtyards, farms, and kindergartens

This photograph of Stillings Gaard was taken on a sunny day in Viborg, Denmark. Over the previous week, I’d seen the word gård everywhere — on shops, trading houses, and farms. In Danish it means much more than just ‘farm’: it can be a courtyard, an estate, or the shared yard behind a townhouse. The word comes from Old Norse garðr, linked to English ‘yard’ and ‘garden’, and to German Garten. All go back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning ‘enclosure’. That same idea lies behind Kindergarten, the ‘children’s garden’ first imagined as a protected space for learning and growth.