The RHS Chelsea Flower show is in full swing so we take a look at the etymology behind the word ‘horticulture’

Horticulture

The week of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show seems like a suitable time to look into the origin of the word ‘horticulture’. This is formed out of two Latin words: hortus means ‘a garden’, and cultura means ‘cultivation’ or ‘tilling’. So horticulture is simply ‘the cultivation of gardens’.

Almost all English words that describe a process of tending and growing a crop are formed in a similar way: ‘agriculture’ is the tilling of fields (from Latin ager); ‘viticulture’ is the tending of vines (from Latin vitis); ‘silviculture’ refers to looking after woodlands (from Latin silva); and so on. The same process of word-formation accounts for words that describe farming specific animals, so ‘apiculture’ refers to bee-keeping (from Latin apis), while ‘pisciculture’ refers to the rearing of fish (from Latin piscis).

Of course, we usually think of ‘culture’ in a slightly different way, as referring to highly valued artistic pursuits. This sense of the word comes from the same origin, however, and arises from the idea that artistic achievement is the product of continuous practice and study. So great music and literature are the result of a process of cultivation in much the same way that a prize-winning rose is.

Other Articles

The Rugby World Cup and South African language

Well, that was a cliffhanger and a half, wasn’t it? South Africa has been buzzing with elation ever since the Springboks’ historic victory in the RWC final. They took the title for the fourth time, thereby not only repeating their triumph at the 2019 World Cup but also placing themselves… Read More

The acceleration of AI and other 2023 trends

Did you worry quite so much about a robot takeover before the advent of ChatGPT? The revolutionary AI-powered language model burst into the public consciousness in late 2022, wowing us with its ability to mimic natural human speech.  It could do much more than that, actually – need copy for… Read More

Words from South Asia for the Cricket World Cup

Howzat! During this month and a goodly part of November, legions of cricket fans worldwide will be watching matches in India like enthusiastic hawks as the country plays host for the third time to the stellar four-yearly ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup (CWC for short). Viewing… Read More