--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Alexander Stolbov" <astolbov@...>
wrote:
> I'd like to explain why I found the Richard's criticism true.
> Indeed, one of the meaning (and probably the most popular
meaning?) of the
> term 'agriculture' coincides with the word 'farming'.
> In the overwhelming majority of cultures the agricultural
population both
> grows plants and breeds livestock in different proportions, thus
using both
> terms ('agriculture' and 'farming') as synonyms is quite normal, I
think.
> However when we are speaking about earliest farmers it should be
specially
> investigated whether they cultivated plants, or bred livestock, or
both. In
> these situations in my opinion the term 'agriculture' should be
used only in
> the narrow sense ('cultivating plants') to avoid confusing readers.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "ehlsmith" <ehlsmith@...>
Peter P:
Did the 'agricolae' of Roman times only raise crops?
My Funk and Wagnall's (maybe not the best dictionary) for
agriculture says, "the cultivation of the soil; the raising of food
crops; raising and breeding of live-stock..."
Ned Smith:
I am not so sure that the criticism is merited, Alexander. I share
in Peter's questioning of defining agriculture so as to exclude
animal husbandry. In addition to the Funk & Wagnells citation from
Peter, both the American Heritage dictionary and the Merriam-Webster
dictionary include the raising of livestock in their definitions of
agriculture. Further, at least several encyclopedias treat animal
husbandry as part of agriculture. I would say that in American
general usage it is certainly considered so. Richard, is your
exclusion of it from agriculture perhaps another example of
differing usages in Britain and America? Or perhaps a specialized
usage in the field of anthropology?
Richard:
I'm not sure whether I need to add to what Alexander said, but I'll
repeat what 'Usage and Abusage' has to say on the topic:
*agricultural; agrucultur(al)ist.* See AGRARIAN. _Agriculturist_
is gradually displacing the longer form.
*agrarian* for _agricultural_ 'is still rather bookish'; in the
main, it is confined to the _Agrarian Reforms_ of Ancient Rome and
the _agrarian policies_ of political parties. As a noun, _agricultur
(al)ist_ is loose for 'a farmer', but is justifiable when used as
the opposite of _pastoralist_ (a farmer of live stock); an
_agrarian_ is 'one who recommends an equitable division of land'.
My dictionaries give only the narrower sense:
Concise Oxford English Dictionary (1951): 'Cultivation of the soil.'
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (1964): 'the art or practice
of cultivating the land.'
However, the Royal Agricultural College (at Cirencester)
includes 'animal production' under the heading 'agriculture'.
Deducing the meaning of 'agriculture' partly depends on
understanding why the word 'farming' wasn't used - register or
substance?
Richard.