Gord (archaeology)

Medieval Slavonic fortified settlement Visualization of the Poznań gród, Poland at the end of the 10th century A gord is a medieval Slavonic fortified settlement, usually built on strategic sites such as hilltops (a hillfort), riverbanks, lake islets or peninsulas between the 6th and 12th centuries in Central and Eastern Europe. A typical gord consisted of a group of wooden houses surrounded by a wall made of earth and wood, and a palisade running along the top of the bulwark. Etymology Section of a reconstructed hilltop gród at the village of Birów near Ogrodzieniec, Poland Towns and villages in Poland with names derived from gród (magenta circles) The term ultimately descends from the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰortós 'enclosure'. The Proto-Slavic word *gordъ later differentiated into grad (Cyrillic: град), gorod (Cyrillic: город), gród in Polish, gard in Kashubian, etc. It is the root of various words in modern Slavic languages pertaining to fences and fenced-in areas (Belarusian гарадзіць, Ukrainian городити, Slovak ohradiť, Czech ohradit, Russian оградить, Serbo-Croatian ograditi, and Polish ogradzać, grodzić, to fen