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Linguistic Explorations
The three terms that I chose to explore in more depth were: Garden, Permaculture, and Anthropocentric.
1. Garden
From Merriam Webster’s Dictionary Online: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garden
1. Noun
a : a plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables are cultivated
b : a rich well-cultivated region
c : a container (as a window box) planted with usually a variety of small plants
2a : a public recreation area or park usually ornamented with plants and trees <a botanical garden>
b : an open-air eating or drinking place
c : a large hall for public entertainment
Verb: to lay out or work in a garden
transitive verb: to make into a garden
2: to ornament with gardens
Adjective: of, relating to, used in, or frequenting a garden
2a : of a kind grown in the open as distinguished from one more delicate <garden plant>
b : commonly found : garden-variety
Origin of the word:
Middle English gardin, from Anglo-French gardin, jardin, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German gart enclosure — more at yard
First Known Use: 13th century
Synonyms: amphitheater, arena, auditorium, hall, theater (or theatre)
(This is interesting- I’m not sure that I agree that these “indoor words” like auditorium, hall, and theater are synonymous with the word, “garden.”)
From Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/garden
Noun: 1 a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated.
2.a piece of ground or other space, commonly with ornamental plants, trees, etc., used as a park or other public recreation area: a public garden.
3a fertile and delightful spot or region.
(Delightful seems like a pretty subjective word to use in a dictionary definition.)
adjective: pertaining to, produced in, or suitable for cultivation or use in a garden: fresh garden vegetables; garden furniture.
6.garden-variety. (common, usual, or ordinary; unexceptional.)
verb (used without object)
7.to lay out, cultivate, or tend a garden.
verb (used with object)
8.to cultivate as a garden.
Idiom:
9.lead up / down the garden path, to deceive or mislead in an enticing way; lead on; delude: The voters had been led up the garden path too often to take a candidate's promises seriously.
Origin:
1300–50; Middle English gardin < Old North French gardin, Old French jardin < Germanic; compare Old High German gartin-, German Garten, yard2
From the Oxford English Dictionary Online: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/76724?rskey=UN3GGY&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid
a. An enclosed piece of ground devoted to the cultivation of flowers, fruit, or vegetables; often preceded by some defining word, as flower-, fruit-, kitchen-, market-, strawberry-garden, etc.
2. Permaculture
From Merriam Webster’s Dictionary Online: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/permaculture
Noun: an agricultural system or method that seeks to integrate human activity with natural surroundings so as to create highly efficient self-sustaining ecosystems
Origin:
1permanent + agriculture
First Known Use: 1978
From Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/permaculture
Noun: a system of cultivation intended to maintain permanent agriculture or horticulture by relying on renewable resources and a self-sustaining ecosystem.
The word was coined by Bill Mollison (born 1928). He was an Austrailian ecologist. From perma (nent agri) culture.
From the Oxford English Dictionary Online: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/242398?redirectedFrom=Permaculture#eid
Etymology: < perma- comb. form + culture n.
orig. Austral.
Noun: The development or maintenance of an artificial ecosystem intended to be self-sustaining and to satisfy the living requirements of its inhabitants, esp. by the use of renewable resources.
1978 B. C. Mollison & D. Holmgren Permaculture 1 i. 1/1 Permaculture is a word we have coined for an integrated, evolving system of perennial or self-perpetuating plant and animal species useful to man. It is, in essence, a complete agricultural ecosystem.
1980 Express (Austral.) 2 July 6/5 A member of the Tagari Permaculture Community, Mr. Earl Saxon is in Queensland right now meeting with people and groups interested in Permaculture.
1995 Guardian 22 Mar. (Society section) 5/4 The 50-hectare farm uses permaculture techniques to produce a wide variety of fruits and vegetables as well as pigs, chickens, ducks and rabbits.
1998 Town & Country Planning 67 192/4 Milton Keynes Borough Council has supported the installation of a solar photovoltaic powered irrigation pump in a demonstration permaculture garden.
2001 Kindred Spirit Summer 20/1 Many eco-communities and permaculture projects are still being refused planning permission.
3. Anthropocentric
From Merriam Webster’s Dictionary Online: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anthropocentric
Adjective : considering human beings as the most significant entity of the universe
2: interpreting or regarding the world in terms of human values and experiences
First Known use: 1863
From Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anthropocentric
adjective
1.regarding the human being as the central fact of the universe.
2.assuming human beings to be the final aim and end of the universe.
3.viewing and interpreting everything in terms of human experience and values.
Origin:
Related forms
an·thro·po·cen·tri·cal·ly, adverb
From the Oxford English Dictionary Online: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/8418?redirectedFrom=Anthropocentric#eid
Adjective: Centering in man; regarding man as the central fact of the universe, to which all surrounding facts have reference.
1863 J. W. Draper Intell. Devel. Europe (1865) iii. 42 In the most ancient records remaining, the Hindu mind is dealing with anthropocentric conceptions..of the moral kind.
1876 E. R. Lankester tr. Haeckel Hist. Creation I. ii. 38 The anthropocentric error, that Man is the premeditated aim of the creation of the earth.