“accolade: [E17th] The Provencal word acolada is the source of accolade. This literally meant an embrace or a clasping around the neck, and described the gesture of a friendly hug that was sometimes made when knighting someone, as an early alternative to a stroke on the shoulder with the flat of a sword. The ultimate root of the Provencal word is Latin collum ‘neck,’ from which we also get collar [ME].”
Excerpted from: Creswell, Julia. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Mark's Text Terminal 