I may chat about my books, what I'm writing or reading, or just general thoughts. You may read posts about my cats or just my crazy life in general. Comments are welcome, if anyone wants to interact with me. Maybe we can share war stories, whether it's writing related or just about life in general.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

The Vaccary



I grew up on a farm so this is a fitting word because we had many cows.  I decided to research pastures from ancient times.

The vaccary is an archaic word meaning a cow pasture or dairy farm.  In medieval times, it was linked to grazing land in the moors and valleys of the Pennines in Yorkshire and Lancashire.



 Old vaccary in Pendle UK
 
In the thirteenth century, numbers of vaccaries were carved out of old private hunting chases of nobility, who created them in an attempt to get some revenue back from their holdings.  Vacarries were small-scale commercial cattle farms.  In places around Pendle in the UK (more famous for its witches), you can still see the big stone slab walls that kept the cattle enclosed.

The word is from Medieval Latin, derived from vacca (for cow) and vaccinate (Latin vaccinus) for the cowpox serum used to protect people from smallpox.

This information is from World Wide Words
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35 comments:

  1. Chrys FeyApril 25, 2015 at 7:28 AM

    I never heard of vaccary before. You taught me something new today. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chrys FeyApril 25, 2015 at 7:28 AM

    I never heard of vaccary before. You taught me something new today. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 25, 2015 at 4:09 PM

      Chrys,

      I hadn't either before the challenge, but I did reseach on some of the letters I was struggling with. We both learned something. That's one thing about the challenge and reading what others share.

      Thank you for visiting me.

      Sunni

      Delete
  3. SpacerGuyApril 25, 2015 at 9:43 AM

    Well done for getting to V. My cousins have a cow farm in the country and Vincent has pet names for his favorite cows!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 25, 2015 at 4:12 PM

      Spacerguy,

      Thank you, but I never sign up for anything I won't see through to the end. This is my fourth year doing the challenge. It's a learning experience every time.

      We grew up on a farm and had lots of cows. The only ones named were the three milk cows.

      Thanks for visiting my blog.

      Sunni

      Delete
  4. pilch92April 25, 2015 at 11:00 AM

    I learned something new :) I had never heard that word before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 25, 2015 at 4:13 PM

      pilch,

      Thank you for visiting me. I'm glad you learned something new. I love learning things I didn't know.

      Sunni

      Delete
  5. Hart JohnsonApril 25, 2015 at 11:29 AM

    I can't believe I'd never put together where the word vaccinate came from. I knew vac was cow, as vaca is cow in Spanish, but I hadn't thought about it much further. Interesting. My uncles family raised cows, so I've been to several vaccaries in Idaho, now that I know the word for it. We called them pastures.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hart JohnsonApril 25, 2015 at 11:29 AM

    I can't believe I'd never put together where the word vaccinate came from. I knew vac was cow, as vaca is cow in Spanish, but I hadn't thought about it much further. Interesting. My uncles family raised cows, so I've been to several vaccaries in Idaho, now that I know the word for it. We called them pastures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 25, 2015 at 4:16 PM

      Hart,

      Thanks for your comment. We called them pastures too. We were raised on a farm. I think vaccary is an antiquated word but still good to know.

      Sunni

      Delete
  7. D.G. HudsonApril 25, 2015 at 12:12 PM

    Interesting info in your post. A dairy farm sounds like a pleasant place to grow up. Cows have always intimidated me however, they seem so BIG. Love all the cats about, too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 25, 2015 at 4:22 PM

      Hi DG,

      The only cows that really frightened me as a child were the bulls, which could be quite mean. We had to shovel corn, during harvest season, into a barn for the cows. This barn was located in the middle of the pasture (vaccary) and had holes cut out to serve as windows and for ventilation. The cows would gather round wanting that corn, so that was really no picnic either.

      I love cats and have had quite few in my lifetime.

      Thanks for visiting me during the challenge.

      Sunni

      Delete
  8. Liz A.April 25, 2015 at 7:48 PM

    I had not heard that word before, but cows and vaccines... Yeah, that makes sense.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 25, 2015 at 8:22 PM

      Hi Liz,

      Yes, it does make sense.

      Thanks for leaving a comment.

      Sunni

      Delete
  9. Thea O'BrianApril 25, 2015 at 7:48 PM

    You are punching out memories for me again Sunni.
    http://enchantedfantasies.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 25, 2015 at 8:23 PM

      Thea,

      I have to do that once in a while. :-)

      Thanks for visiting.

      Sunni

      Delete
  10. bettyApril 25, 2015 at 8:01 PM

    I had not heard this word before, thanks for sharing it with us and educating me :)

    betty

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 25, 2015 at 8:24 PM

      Betty,

      I got the education myself when I was researching the V word.

      Thanks for stopping by.

      Sunni

      Delete
  11. RuthApril 25, 2015 at 9:32 PM

    That is good to know. I had read the word before, but didn't actually know the full meaning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 25, 2015 at 9:57 PM

      Ruth,

      Thanks for visiting me during the challenge.

      Sunni

      Delete
  12. Luana KrauseApril 26, 2015 at 12:18 AM

    Interesting. I did not know that term. It's nice to learn something new.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 26, 2015 at 3:42 PM

      Luana,

      I love learning something new and wish I could everyday but, of course, that doesn't happen.

      Thanks for visiting my blog during the challenge.

      Sunni

      Delete
  13. JoApril 26, 2015 at 7:20 AM

    That's a new word for me. I didn't know the derivation of vaccinate either. Nor I might add did I know about the witches in Pendle. So you really gave me lots of info today Sunni.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 26, 2015 at 3:43 PM

      Jo,

      I'm glad that was an educational post.

      Thanks for visiting my blog.

      Sunni

      Delete
  14. UnknownApril 26, 2015 at 11:47 AM

    This is so interesting. I've never heard that word before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 26, 2015 at 3:44 PM

      Megan,

      Thanks for reading and leaving me a comment.

      Sunni

      Delete
  15. Michele at Angels Bark April 26, 2015 at 5:43 PM

    That's really interesting, the origin of the word.
    Michele at Angels Bark

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 26, 2015 at 8:58 PM

      Hi Michele,

      Thank you for visiting my blog during the challenge.

      Sunni

      Delete
  16. PaulaApril 26, 2015 at 9:55 PM

    You educated me today as well!! Thanks

    Smidgen Snippets & Bits

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 26, 2015 at 11:28 PM

      Thank you, Paula, for visiting my blog. I'm glad you learned something new. I did too when I was researching this subject.

      Sunni

      Delete
  17. Empty Nest InsiderApril 27, 2015 at 12:47 AM

    I also learned something new today. How fascinating where the smallpox serum came from!

    Julie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 27, 2015 at 4:21 PM

      Hi Julie,

      I'm glad you enjoyed that post. Thanks for visiting me during the challenge.

      Sunni

      Delete
  18. Suzy, The Grey BrunetteApril 27, 2015 at 3:19 AM

    That's fascinating - especially considering I'm originally from Yorkshire myself. And I love cows... I think they're beautiful! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SunniApril 27, 2015 at 4:23 PM

      Suzy,

      I'm glad I could post something fascinating.

      Thanks for reading and leaving a comment.

      Sunni

      Delete
  19. unknownApril 11, 2019 at 12:29 AM

    very interesting post
    write for us

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by to read and
comment on my posts. I appreciate it.
Sunni

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