In message <005c01c40efc$d0b64490$84f1a1cd@preferred>, Gordon Barlow <barlow@candw.ky> writes >> The word 'farmer' only came in slowly (and meant something else >> originally) >> Eve McLaughlin >> >Excuse my ignorance, but what did "farmer" mean originally? a person who leased either land or some kind of money making scheme (like a taxgathering) for a set sum, on the understanding that he could make as much out of it as the market would bear. So originally he sublet land at unfixed rents or went round collecting the tax, making as much profit as he thought he could in a set period of time./ Gradually, men who had leased land in this way probably farm let (at a high rent) parts of it, and kept the rest in hand, to 'agriculture' it and make as much as they could out of it that way. Gradually, 'farming' of taxes more or less ceased, (c early 18C) so a 'farmer' was taking on agricultural land, and the two terms, for the man who was leasing land and what he did with it, became more or less synonymous. Think 'farmed out' referring to work (outsourcing now) and babyfarming. The actual job of agriculturing a field was referred to as husbandry. -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society

Baby farming and puppy farming have more sinister inferences, don't they. I remember a while ago the list having a discussion on the baby sort occurring in and around 19th London and a very nasty practice it seemed to be. Audrey ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eve McLaughlin" <eve@varneys.demon.co.uk> To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2004 11:49 PM Subject: Re: [OEL] tenants rights > In message <005c01c40efc$d0b64490$84f1a1cd@preferred>, Gordon Barlow > <barlow@candw.ky> writes > >> The word 'farmer' only came in slowly (and meant something else > >> originally) > >> Eve McLaughlin > >> > >Excuse my ignorance, but what did "farmer" mean originally? > a person who leased either land or some kind of money making scheme > (like a taxgathering) for a set sum, on the understanding that he could > make as much out of it as the market would bear. So originally he sublet > land at unfixed rents or went round collecting the tax, making as much > profit as he thought he could in a set period of time./ Gradually, men > who had leased land in this way probably farm let (at a high rent) parts > of it, and kept the rest in hand, to 'agriculture' it and make as much > as they could out of it that way. Gradually, 'farming' of taxes more or > less ceased, (c early 18C) so a 'farmer' was taking on agricultural > land, and the two terms, for the man who was leasing land and what he > did with it, became more or less synonymous. > > Think 'farmed out' referring to work (outsourcing now) and babyfarming. > The actual job of agriculturing a field was referred to as husbandry. > > -- > Eve McLaughlin > > Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians > Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > OLD-ENGLISH Web Page > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ > >