Husbandry
The last time I heard the word "husbandry" was about 20 years ago when asking my fellow sandwich maker at the university restaurant what he was studying. He said, "Animal Husbandry." My wonder at the coupling of "husband" with "animal" has not ceased, primarily by having planted an extremely important verb into my mind: "to husband" That idea alone blossomed into a rich image only slightly grasped in the following etymology given by the free on-line dictionary: from Old Norse húsbóndi ‘master of a house,’ from hús ‘house’ + bóndi ‘occupier and tiller of the soil.’ The original sense of the verb was ‘till, cultivate.’ Granted, the verb “to husband” is never used. Nevertheless this original concept of cultivating seems to be the key missing idea from today’s noun. I can only speculate how this verb also happens to associate with marriage, but it would seem to be an ancient idea. And this seemin...