Word of the Day

Monday August 17, 2009

bucolic [byoo-KOL-ik]

adjective

Relating to or characteristic of the countryside or its people; rustic
Of or pertaining to the life and occupation of a shepherd; pastoral

I AM A LUCKY GIRL, in that my profession enables me to travel to some far-flung and fascinating places. And while I love to acquire frequent-flier miles, one of my favorite destinations is considerably closer to home. The Pt. Reyes Peninsula and neighboring Tomales Bay are just an hour from San Francisco, yet retain the authenticity and bucolic atmosphere of their fishing and dairy farming past.

Laurel Miller, "Fork in the Road: Nick's Cove in Marin", Oakland Tribune, Apr 8, 2009
Pausa, as owners Einat and Avigdor Rothem call it, is a getaway place for Israeli foodies, surrounded by collective farms, or kibbutzim. Set among orange and olive groves, near 9,232-foot Mount Hermon and the headwaters of the Jordan, it promised fine food in a bucolic setting as long as all remained quiet on the nearby Lebanese border.

Susan Spano, "Ancient wanderings reading the Bible conjures images, but seeing Galilee is believing", South Florida Sun – Sentinel, Apr 5, 2009
He who would foolishly tax the sages of Canaan with a bucolic light-mindedness must first walk in Piccadilly in early June, stroll down the Corso in Rome before Ash Wednesday, or regard those windows of Fifth Avenue whose curtains are withdrawn of a winter Sunday; for in each of these great streets, wherever the windows, not of trade, are widest, his eyes must behold wise men, like to those of Canaan, executing always their same purpose.

Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and dramatist. The Conquest of Canaan (1905)

Origin of the Word

Bucolic, approximately 1523, derives from Greek boukolikos "rustic," from boukolos "herdsman," from bous "cow" + -kolos "tending," related to Latin colere "to till (the ground), cultivate, dwell, inhabit"