A Mound Was a Hedge Before It Was a Hill
A mound is a raised heap of earth. The word originally meant a boundary hedge or fence, not the earth itself.
A mound is a rounded heap of earth or stones. The earliest recorded sense in English is a hedge or fence marking a boundary, and the modern meaning came from the earth bank thrown up alongside such a barrier. The heap took its name from the boundary it served. In archaeology, a *burial mound* or *barrow* covers a grave, and Britain has thousands of them dating from the Neolithic onwards.
- A heap of earth. *A grassy mound.*
- A burial mound. *A Bronze Age mound.*
- Barrow — the archaeological term. *A long barrow.*
- Pitcher's mound — in baseball. *The pitcher's mound.*
- Tumulus — the Latin term. *A tumulus.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | mound | A low mound. |
| Plural | mounds | Burial mounds. |
| Verb | mound | Mound the earth. |
| Related | barrow | A barrow. |
| Related | tumulus | A tumulus. |
- The mound covers a Bronze Age grave.Archaeology.
- He piled the soil into a mound.Gardening.
- The pitcher stood on the mound.Baseball.
Kinds of burial mound
- Long barrow — Neolithic, rectangular, often communal
- Round barrow — Bronze Age, circular, usually a single burial
- Cairn — built of stones rather than earth
- Tumulus — the general Latin term used on maps
- Sutton Hoo — a famous Anglo-Saxon ship burial under a mound
Middle English *mound*, a hedge or fence, of uncertain origin. The sense of an earth heap developed in the 1500s.
What is the difference between a barrow and a cairn?
A barrow is built of earth, a cairn of stones. Both cover burials.
Did mound always mean a hill?
No. Its earliest English sense was a hedge or boundary fence. The earth heap sense came later.