The Many Names of Country People: An Historical Dictionary From the Twelfth Century Onward

(Hardback)

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Description

Country names are used to describe people who were--or are--engaged in agricultural pursuits. They indicate status, occupation, duties, geographical location, type or level of skill, economic function, and many other conditions of rural life. This new historical dictionary provides an important key to country life in English-speaking regions from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries. It presents information on the usage, meanings, and historical background for more than 1,778 names that have been given to the country people of Britain, North America, and the West Indies, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The entries identify agrarian meanings of the names, the occupational groups that used them, dates of use, geographical range, and common and uncommon variants. Connotations are noted--whether the terms are respectful or derogatory, playful, or merely descriptive--and cross-referencing is supplied for terms that appear in more than one entry. This reference is the only comprehensive work of its kind. It will be a useful and informative companion to the researcher concerned with agricultural and economic history, the history of English-speaking peoples, and the history of the English language.

Reviews

. . . Apparently, Schlebecker read everything he could get his hands on in preparation for the task. . . .-Names
. . .A thorough study of the work brings the realization that although it stands as authoritative, it also is eclectic and idiosyncratic, the product of one man's extended immersion in agricultural history. The terse, wry phrasing of the entries, too, seems to partake of the manner of the complier. All of which only enhances the appeal of the work, making it not merely a catalog, but rather a living document.-Missouri Historical Review
." . . Apparently, Schlebecker read everything he could get his hands on in preparation for the task. . . ."-Names
." . .A thorough study of the work brings the realization that although it stands as authoritative, it also is eclectic and idiosyncratic, the product of one man's extended immersion in agricultural history. The terse, wry phrasing of the entries, too, seems to partake of the manner of the complier. All of which only enhances the appeal of the work, making it not merely a catalog, but rather a living document."-Missouri Historical Review

Author Bio

JOHN T. SCHLEBECKER is secretary-treasurer of the Association for Living Historical Farms and Agricultural Museums. He is the author of Whereby We Thrive: A History of American Farming, 1607-1972, The Use of the Land: Essays on the History of American Agriculture, and other scholarly works in agricultural history.