cultivate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin cultīvō (“to till”),^[2][3][4][5] a verb recorded from the 12th century,^[2] with the English ending -ate taken from its past participle cultīvātus.^[6][2][7] The Medieval Latin verb comes from cultīvus (“tilled, fit for tilling”), used in cultīva terra (“arable land”),^[5][8][7] which is from Latin cultus, the past participle of colō (“to till, cultivate; to inhabit”).^[6][4][9] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to revolve, move around”).^[6][4] Barnhart thinks the English word was probably formed under the influence of French cultiver and Spanish cultivar,^[10][3] and the OED compares the sense development of the French verb.^[2] Merriam-Webster and Collins take the Medieval Latin verb itself from cultiver.^[11][12] The word is related to cult, culture and colony.^[9][3][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To prepare and use land for growing crops; to till: 1588, in Robert Parke's translation of Mendoza's history of China.^[2][11] Barnhart's first record is from 1620–55, in an edition of Inigo Jones,^[3] and Etymonline dates the verb to the 1650s.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The verb soon passed from the land to what grows on it: growing and improving a plant or crop is recorded from 1622.^[2] It was used figuratively from the 1630s for refining a person or the mind by education,^[2] although Barnhart and Etymonline date the figurative sense only to the 1680s.^[3][6] The OED notes that French cultiver had gone through the same senses earlier, from tilling the land (c. 1119) to developing the mind (1538) and cultivating a friendship (1666).^[2] In English, fostering a branch of knowledge or a public feeling followed in 1641, trying to win someone's friendship in 1673, and seeking a person's favour in 1706, now often with a hint of flattery.^[2][6] Johnson (1755) gave as his first sense to improve the produce of the earth by manual work.^[14] Later uses include raising fish or shellfish (1804), growing micro-organisms in a culture (1867), and growing one's hair or nails in a certain style (1791).^[2]

Timeline

• 1588 – to till land and use it for crops.^[2][11]
• 1622 – to grow and improve a plant or crop.^[2]
• c. 1631 – to refine a person or the mind by education.^[2]
• 1641 – to foster a branch of knowledge or a sentiment.^[2]
• 1673 – to try to develop a friendship.^[2]
• 1706 – to seek the favour of a person.^[2]
• 1766 – to break up or weed ground with a cultivator.^[2]
• 1791 – to grow the hair or nails in a certain style.^[2]
• 1867 – biology: to grow micro-organisms in a culture.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To prepare and work land for growing crops; to till: The settlers cultivated the valley floor.^[12][11][2]
2. To grow and tend plants or crops: They cultivate olives and grapes on the slopes.^[12][2]
3. To loosen or break up the soil around growing plants, as with a cultivator or hoe.^[12][11][2]
4. To improve or develop the mind, manners or a skill by study or training; to refine.^[12][2]
5. To give special attention to an interest, habit or activity, or to adopt a manner or image: He cultivated an air of mystery.^[12][2]
6. To try to win the friendship or favour of a person, or to develop a relationship: She cultivated contacts in the press.^[12][2]
7. In biology, to grow bacteria or cells in a culture.^[12][2]

Word family

• cultivatable
• overcultivate
• recultivate
• cultivable
• cultivar
• cultivated
• cultivation
• cultivator

Related words

• cult
• culture
• colony
• agriculture

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.