I’ve always been fascinated with name and word origins, especially Dutch names and German words. Some Dutch and German words are similar.
Some years ago, I was with a group of Canadian farmers touring European farms. On a beef farm in Germany our tour guide had difficulty translating some English words to German – for the German farmer. Words such as nitrogen, hog manure, fertilizer, beef meat…I’d help and say the Dutch word. The German farmer understood it and would nod his head and repeat the word. It felt good being an interpreter.
There is a story behind almost every word in our language — be it English, French, German, Dutch … whatever — but none are more interesting than those concerning the words related to, or associated with, farming. These stories provide not only an understanding of how and why our farming words began, they also provide a revealing look at our farming history and roots.
Centuries ago, the principal crop grown by Anglo-Saxon farmers in northern Europe was barley. At harvest time, the farmers stored their grain in a small shed or shelter known simply as a berern, or “barley house.” The word was from bere (which meant “barley”) and aern (“closed place”). As time went by, this shelter, or berern, was used not only to store grain but also to house all crops and animals; and the word berern became our present day “barn.”
The word “farm” had an interesting beginning. Originally, a farmer was not a tiller of the soil, but a collector of rent and taxes. In France and England, a peasant would lease or rent a tract of land for agricultural purposes and the amount of money, or fee, paid for the rented land was called ferme. The individual, who collected the ferme, or rent, was a fermer. It wasn’t until the 15th century that the words ferme and fermer became our present farm and farmer and adopted their present meanings.
To farm, there must be a “field” to till and this word began in the British Isles where ancient farmers referred to a plot of land from which trees had been cleared, or felled, as a feld. (The Dutch word is veld). It was an easy jump from feld to “field.”
Regardless of the main crop of any farm, almost every farmer has a small garden for fruits, vegetables and even flowers. “Garden” is a word attributed to the early monks who planted fruits, vegetables and herbs just outside their monastery. To protect their precious rows of plants from grazing livestock, the monks built walls and fences around their small plots. Such a protected or guarded spot was called a gardin, which became our “garden.”
Some words have French origin. The word “season” came from the French word for seedtime, seison. “Acre” can be traced way back to the days of the Sumerians and their word agar, “a watered field.”
Across the way, that “neighbour” is literally a farmer who lives near you because the word comes from the Old English neahgebur, which meant “nearby farmer”. The word “cattle” resulted from a corrupted version of capitale (our present “capital”), the term for a landholder’s possessions.
Years ago, when the ruling class lived in castles and manors, small huts nearby were reserved for such chores as cooking, baking and churning. These domestic tasks were handled by a female servant, called a dey, and the small house in which they worked, a deyery. Since there was always milk sitting around for use in the daily chores, any place where milk was processed or used for cooking became known as the deyery, or “dairy.”
After the seeds were planted, the “crops” were ready for harvest. The English used “crop” when speaking of the “head” of a plant’s stem. At harvest time, only the heads, or crops, were harvested. Now, any plant is called a “crop” and animals that graze — eat the heads off grass — are said to “crop it.”
In the spring, we talk about the crop being in — meaning planted. In the fall, we say the crop is off — harvested and in the bin.
