accolade [E17th] The Provençal 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 Provençal word is Latin collum ‘neck’, from which we also get collar [ME].