transhumance
/tɹænzˈhjuːməns/
transhumance means the seasonal movement of grazing livestock (especially cattle, sheep, or goats) to new pastures which may be quite distant; alpine and nonalpine versions of such movement exist. It carries an Arena rating of 1683, earned across 121 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, transhumance ranks #466 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #1,466 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #2,034 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #3,192 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
transhumance is pronounced /tɹænzˈhjuːməns/.
Why “transhumance” is a great word
TRANSHUMANCE — [Noun] The seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. Borrowed from French transhumance, from Latin trāns ("across") + humus ("ground, soil"). Unlike "nomadism" (which implies the rootless, irregular wandering of entire communities) or "migration" (a general term lacking this specific pastoral covenant), transhumance is a ritualized cadence, a contract with the land. It is the slow, dust-choked ascent to alpine meadows in June, the rhythmic clatter of bells echoing in a mountain pass, and the return descent along ancestral trails as the first frosts silver the high meadows—a patient, eternal orbit, the world’s oldest calendar written not in days but in the tread of hooves.
Etymology
Borrowed from French transhumance, ultimately from Latin trāns (“across, beyond”) + humus (“ground”).
noun
- The seasonal movement of grazing livestock (especially cattle, sheep, or goats) to new pastures which may be quite distant; alpine and nonalpine versions of such movement exist.e.g.“There are rites of spring in the mountains, and this week I followed the transhumance, the annual movement of cattle, from their lower valley winter quarters up to the higher pastures.” — 2005 June 17, C. J. Moore, “Meanwhile: With a hop-hop-hop and a bottle of Swiss bubbly”, in New York Times, retrieved 20 Aug 2014:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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