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Tony Ellis wrote:
As for the significance of Trenchard... a trencher is, of
course, a wooden or ceramic platter, and significantly the
word comes from the French trenchoir. Would that make a
trenchard some sort of serving man, a medieval plate-
carrier? Just a thought.
Trencheior or trenchier, actually; a medieval French verb
now obsolete in either form. (May come from trinicare, a
later Vulgar Latin verb meaning 'to cut or divide in three,'
but that's not attested.) The verb meant 'to cut,' and is
also the root for "trenchant."
Given the -ard suffix, I would guess that "trenchard" means
something like "person from the trench." Not very helpful,
I know.
--Roach