palliard n.

"mattress," late 14c., paillet "bed or mattress of straw; small, simple bed," from Anglo-French paillete "straw, bundle of straw," Old French paillet "chaff, bundle of straw," from paille "straw" (12c.), from Latin palea "chaff," perhaps from PIE *pelh- "chaff," source also of Sanskrit palavah "chaff, husk," Old Church Slavonic plevy, Russian polova "chaff," Lithuanian pelūs "chaff."

also -art, from Old French -ard, -art, from German -hard, -hart "hardy," forming the second element in many personal names, often used as an intensifier, but in Middle High German and Dutch used as a pejorative element in common nouns, and thus passing into Middle English in bastard, coward, blaffard ("one who stammers"), etc. It thus became a living element in English, as in buzzard, drunkard. The German element is from Proto-Germanic *-hart/*-hard "bold, hardy" (from PIE root *kar- "hard").

variant of palliard.