2804: Accolades Aug 24, 2024

The word "accolades" traces its roots back to the Latin word accollare, meaning "to embrace around the neck." This term evolved through Old French into accolade, which referred to the ceremonial act of knighthood, where a sword or an embrace was used to tap or encircle the neck of the newly appointed knight. The neck, being the focal point in this gesture, is directly tied to the word ‘collar’, which stems from the Latin ‘collum’, meaning ‘neck’. Thus, the concept of bestowing honors, or accolades, is etymologically linked to the word "collar."

Over time, ‘accolade’ expanded beyond its medieval origins to denote any form of praise or honor, moving beyond anything related to necks or for that matter anything tangible.