M Trivia 2.6: Answer
August 4, 2010 – 9:44 amAn M Trivia question was asked in the latest edition of the MM Express, a regular email update sent out by Missions Mandate. The title of the email was “Reverse Culture Shock,” the emotional (and often physical) effects of transitioning back to your host country after spending years overseas. Our cross-cultural workers face this phenomenon and is something that we, as their senders, ought to be aware of. (I recently found this helpful article on the concept of reverse-culture shock from a study abroad website.)
M Trivia for MM Express 2.6: According to an online etymology site, what was the original, literal meaning of the word “culture” in Middle French and Latin?
Correct answer: According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word culture was derived from the Middle-French word culture, meaning “the tilling of the land,” which was directly taken from the Latin cultura, meaning “a cultivating, agriculture” literally and “care, culture, an honoring” in the figurative sense.
The article also states that the term culture was first used in the sense of “the intellectual side of civilization” in 1805 and in the sense of “collective customs and achievements of a people” in 1867. (Anyone know what work or event occurred in 1867 that resulted in the definition of culture used today? “The Manifest Destiny” era? Charles Dickens’ first public reading in the U.S? Purchase of Alaska territory - Seward’s Folly? I’d be curious to know what event or study produced this definition.)
Out of the correct answers submitted, a winner was selected at random. She has been notified via email and will receive a free copy of Re-Entry: Making the Transition from Missions to Life at Home. Re-Entry presents
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