laurels vs medal

laurels

noun
  • Honors. From the Ancient Greek practice of crowning victors with a branch from the laurel bush, sacred to Apollo. 

medal

noun
  • A stamped or cast metal object (usually a disc), particularly one awarded as a prize or reward. 

  • A stamped metal disc used as a personal ornament, a charm, or a religious object. 

verb
  • To award a medal to. 

  • To win a medal. 

How often have the words laurels and medal occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )