The Harvest History of Aftermath
Hello,
Having gathered in my tomato harvest last weekend, before night frosts arrive here on Ireland’s East coast, I couldn’t resist sharing a harvest related word with you this week.
Fields of gold, just before harvestI came across this word in “Humble Pie and Cold Turkey” by Caroline Taggart.
From Anglo-Saxon times up to the early 1900s a math was the act of mowing or the part of a crop which had been mowed. Hence the aftermath was a second growth of the same crop (usually grass or grains), which grew after the original math. Math in this case had nothing to do with mathematics. It came from the Old English word maed (a mowing of grass) and originally from a root word me (to cut down grass).
Other words for the aftermath were aftercrop (1500s), aftergrass (1600s), and lattermath. French had a similar idea with the word regain which is formed from re (again) and gain or gaain (grass which grows in mown meadows). All thrifty farmers, and gardeners, love to get a second flush of a crop or flower by harvesting or dead-heading the first flush.
The concept of something following on from an earlier event is what gives us the more modern idea of aftermath, but it dates to the 1600s so it’s not exactly recent. Now you might say that in the aftermath of the book launch the author was hungover, for example.
Speaking of book launches, all the details for “Words Christmas Gave Us” are now on my books page, including reviews and how to order a signed copy and I’m looking forward to my bookshop launch on the 24th of October 2024 at Academy Books in Drogheda. Hopefully there will only be a good aftermath from that one.
Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,
Grace (@Wordfoolery)
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