Word Power: Bucolic

Today’s lesson in Word Power is to understand the etymology and history behind the word bucolic.

Bucolic: [bu-col-ic]

(Adj.)

1. Of or characteristic of the countryside or its people; rustic.
2. Of or characteristic of shepherds or flocks; pastoral.

(Noun)

1. A pastoral poem.
2. A farmer or shepherd; a rustic.  (American Heritage Dictionary)

Etymology

In order to understand the etymology behind the word bucolic, we must trace the word back to the Ancient Greek language.  It was in the Ancient Greek language that the word βουκολιΚος (boukolikos) first took form.  This word meant rustic or pastoral, but let’s dig deeper and understand how the Greeks were able to form this word in the first place.  The word βουκολιΚος was actually a combination of two other Ancient Greeks words, βους and κολος.

Βους (Bous)

In Ancient Greek, the word βους meant ox, bull, or cow.  In the plural sense, the word meant cattle.  Believe it or not the word βους is a stem in words that we use today, such as butter or bovine.

Κολος (Kolos)

Κολος in Ancient Greek meant tending.  It is actually derived from an obsolete form of the Ancient Greek verb κολεω.  As is usually the case, the Romans took this word and infused into their Latin language.  From κολεω the Romans created the verb colere, which means to tend, till, cultivate, etc.  We see the root κολος in our language today in words, such as colony, culture, and even cultivate.

Summary

The Ancient Greeks had taken the two words (βους and κολος) and combined them to form βουκολος, which meant herdsman.  However, as the Ancient Greeks were privy to, they added to existing words rather than make up new ones and in order to make a word an adjective “of pertaining to”, they added the suffix ικος to the word.  Hence, we have the Ancient Greek word βουκολικος, which meant pastoral.  Through the evolution of languages βουκολικος was changed by Latin to read bucolicus.  Remember, the Romans did not actively use the letter “k” in their alphabet and therefore the κ was changed to a c.  The suffix -us was added in order to ensure that the adjective would be able to match in gender, number, and case with the noun it was modifying.  Over time, through Old French and Middle English the ending -icus changed to -ique and then eventually -ic.

Extra Credit

Before now, I had never heard of the word bucolic, but after writing this post I feel like I am an expert on it.  So first, I want to take the time out to thank Jason Morgan for suggesting this most difficult word.  Onward, back in October I did a Word Power on the word economy where I briefly touched upon the suffix -ic.  The suffix -ic forms an adjective giving the meaning “of pertaining to or having characteristics of” to the word.  Nevertheless, I wanted to review the fact that the suffix -ic is actually derived from the Ancient Greek suffix -ικος.  The Romans changed this suffix to -icus (masculine).  Once the French got their hands on the words, they changed the suffix to -ique and then the English reduced it to -ic.  This is where we are today, with words such as music and critic.

Tune in next Thursday for a breakdown of the word Education.

Image Used in this Post

Highland Cattle image courtesy of Flickr user Steve Deger published under the CC license.