To garner the laurels, meaning “to collect praise” refers to the ancient practice of awarding crowns of bay laurel leaves to victors in competitions. This tradition of honoring distinction with such a wreath is reflected in the terms Nobel laureate and poet laureate. The ancient Greeks referred to this leafy crown as a stephanos, the source of such names as Stephen, Stephanie, and Esteban. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Laurels as an Honor”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, Grant. This is Michelle calling from Michigan.
Hi, Michelle. Welcome to the show.
Hey, Michelle.
Hi, thank you.
I was calling because of an expression that I read in my art history textbook. It has to do with the phrase, garner the laurels. It was in a passage about daguerreotypes, and one of the inventors had died, and the other inventor got all of the credit. And I was just wondering where that phrase came from, and what getting all the credit has to do with leave. Specifically, they said that one of the inventors died, leaving the other to garner the laurel.
Okay. So the other one, the one who didn’t die, got all the credit then, right?
Correct. He even got the type of image named after him.
Oh, right, right, right. Okay. That refers to the fact that in ancient Greece, winners of competitions, like athletic competitions, were awarded crowns that were made from the fragrant leaves of bay laurels. You know, just like the bay leaf that you put in your soup. They would have these wreaths of bay leaves. And I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of them on statues or in illustrations. But we get terms like laureate from that, like Nobel laureate is somebody who’s won the laurels, who’s won that crown as a prize, or poet laureate. In Italy, laureati are graduates of an educational institution. So it’s a reward based on that old tradition of crowning somebody with a crown made out of those leaves specifically.
Wow, that is really cool. That is not where I would have thought. But you’re right. I have seen images of that crown that you’re talking about. And do you know what that crown was called in ancient Greek?
This is also really cool. I do not know.
It was called the Stephanos, and we get a couple of modern English names from that term.
Oh, like Stephan.
Mm—
Stephan, Stephen.
Yes, Stephanie.
Yep, yep.
Esteban in Spanish. All of those go back to the Greek word for crown.
Wow, how neat. How cool, right? So the next time you’re making soup and you put in a bay leaf, you can think about that etymology.
Well, I will certainly be thinking about that whenever I hear that phrase. Thank you so much for that explanation. A long-time listener, first-time caller.
Oh, that’s very nice. Excellent. We look forward to you being a second-time caller sometime.
Yes, please. And take care of yourself. Be well.
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
Okie doke.
Bye-bye.
Hey, we’re here to explain those expressions that just don’t make sense. 877-929-9673. Or we’re here to hear you explain something to us. Words@waywordradio.org.
