Re: [tied] 'Agriculture'

18-01-04 12:34, Richard Wordingham wrote:

> 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?

The OED defines _agriculture_ as

"The science and art of cultivating the soil; including the allied
pursuits of gathering in the crops and rearing live stock; tillage,
husbandry, farming (in the widest sense)."

However, it gives examples of use in which "agriculture" is contrasted
with animal husbandry or even with "farming" in general:

"The lands ... were not fields for agriculture, but pastures for cattle."

and:

"He was an agriculturalist, which in the vagueness and uncertainty of
our language is called a farmer."

I agree that maximum precision is necessary in discussions of early
Neolithic economies.

Piotr