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1. Key concepts and their history Prehistoric and ancient terminological categories pervaded early modern concepts of earth. Like other elements (fire, air, water), earth was part of creation myths, coming about through the overcoming of chaos by separation and the ordering (Order [system]) of the elements (often also the separation of heaven and earth, light and darkness). Gender allocations also played an important part in the binary tetradic structure of the premodern doctrines of elements, substan…

1. Concept Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917) [11], who coined Animism as a technical term, is regarded by dint of his theory of the development of religion as one of the founders of religious science. Regardless of the evolutionism of this tradition, Animism should here be understood as a position that does not accept a clear distinction between inanimate or unensouled things and living beings. “Every object, irrespective of whether it consisted of organic or inorganic substance, irrespective of wheth…

1. Natural philosophy 1.1. Distinction from humanDirectly or indirectly, the concept of the animal was frequently contrasted with that of the human in the early modern period [10]. Initially, it was used to define the sphere of philosophical anthropology (Humanity). Only later did “animal” come to denote an object of zoological study (Zoology). This anthropocentric perspective is clearly seen, for instance, in Renaissance printed editions of medieval bestiaries, which present all known species of animals – from the real w…

1. Introduction In the fourfold concept of the natural world that held sway from Antiquity, air was one of the four elements. It was believed to be a weightless element between fire and earth and water. Soon after 1491, the  Heidelberger Schicksalsbuch drew attention to the association between air and meteorological phenomena: “In the air are many transformations of fire, water, and wind. Watery being rain, dew, frost, snow, hail, fog” ( Jn dem lufft werden manigerlay verwandelung fewrs wassers vnd windts. Wässerig als regen taw reiff schne hagel nebel) (107r; [2]). There is no me…

1. Term The word calendar derives from the name of the first day of the month in Ancient Rome (Latin Kalendae). From Latin kalendarium (‘debt-book’), it later came to refer to the whole system of reckoning time (Time, reckoning of). All known calendars are based on the alternation of day and night, the recurrent phases of the Moon (OE mona = “Moon”; monađ = “month”), and the course of the seasons through the solar year.Wolfgang Behringer 2. Chronology: early manifestations In all cultures, astronomical phenomena (Astronomy) determine the chronological units of year, month,…

1. Definition and overview Animal breeding in the narrower sense comprises the varyingly targeted selection of parent animals in order to produce offspring with desired characteristics, generally ones that can be successfully exploited economically. In the broader sense the term would include everything necessary for and conducive to the rearing of young animals. In the narrow sense animal breeding presupposes detailed knowledge of the forms of animal reproduction and the rules of heredit…

1. Concept and Christian background In the question of the relationship between human beings and nature, there are various positions, which depend on how the significance of human beings (Humankind) is assessed. The approach of anthropocentrism focuses on the perspective and interests of human beings, not uncommonly in the utilitarian form of a benefit relationship (Utilitarianism): nature was created for humankind and is therefore meaningful solely in proportion to its usefulness. Alternative models…

1. DefinitionThe fact that for most known species, reproduction of animal and vegetable life is anisogamous (by the fusion of different gametes) is described by the term dimorphism (or bimorphism). The concept relates to the binary structure of the living world, a structure that is also reflected in many other spheres, such as language. Wherever nature metaphors and analogies are in use, dimorphism is a widespread conceptual and presentational model, even in fields far beyond biology.At all periods, dimorphism as a conceptual figure has also been enlisted to account …

1. Cosmos and order“The Greeks have borrowed a name for the universe from ornament, on account of the variety of the elements and the beauty of the stars. For it is called among them  kosmos. … For with the eyes of the flesh we see nothing fairer than the universe.” (Isidore of Seville, De mundo 13,1; c. 600 CE). Likewise through the modern period and to the present, cosmology—the study of the cosmos (generally synonymous with “universe,” and also with “world” in its comprehensive sense)—has continued to be related not only to physics and astronom…

1. TerminologyThe term vermin (French  vermine, German  Ungeziefer) is attested since approximately 1300. The German term goes back to the 12th century, as the OHG root word  zebar became modern German  ziefer (animal). The German root may possibly have meant a sacrificial animal in the narrower sense, so that the double pejorative prefix  un- and  ge- might suggest animals not fit for sacrifice. Synonyms included  Geschmeiß (from MHG  smeiszen and  smîszen; modern Latin  cacare, “smear with dung”), which Martin Luther used figuratively in an anti-Jewish sense ( die Jüden …

1. Definition; history to 1700The term plant breeding denotes deliberate propagation and breeding of plants in order to improve desired traits. Increased yield, frequently by adapting to changing environmental conditions (Soil; Climate), greater nutritional value, and improved taste were primary goals for changing traits of agricultural crop plants in the early modern period, along with easier exploitability – thanks to better storage facilities, for instance, or aptitude for preservation – and greater (economic) returns. Ever since human beings became sedentary i…

1. Concept Miracles in all religions offer a way of explaining extraordinary events that run counter to everyday experience as the work of a deity, a holy person, a devil, demons, or spirits (Ghost; Devil, belief in; Demonology). The definition of the phenomenon blurs into that of magic, and boundaries are sometimes difficult to draw precisely. Miracles are performed either by the deity in person or through his or her “instruments,” meaning saints or people living saintly lives (e.g. distinguishing themselves by their asceticism), or by relics or holy places.In Greco-Roman an…

1. Concept and overviewFrom Antiquity until well into the early modern period, the idea of repetitive circular motion was a commonplace concept of the course of natural and social processes, both in Europe and in other cultures. It was regarded as the most perfect form of motion, and the circle and sphere as the most perfect geometrical bodies. At the same time, the concept was connected with the idea of eternal return, a revolution in its original sense, still colored by the ideas of Nikolaus Copernicus [3]; [15. 69–71]. The establishment of the heliocentric model in no way pre…

1. OverviewWater (German Wasser, French  eau) is a chemical compound of hydrogen and oxygen (H2O). In nature it can appear in all three states; usually, though, when we speak of water we are talking about the liquid state. So far, water in liquid form has been found in our solar system only on Earth, of which it covers a generous 70%. Water plays an outstanding role in human culture; the availability of water for general use and of drinking water (Water supply) is existential and an expression of our dependence on the natural world [5. 15–28] (on mineral water, see 4. below). It is th…

1. IntroductionZodiac (Greek “zōdiakos [ kyklos]”, literally “[circle] of zōdia,” i.e. small animal figures, cf.  zōdion; via Latin zodiacus) was already the term for the ring of constellations or “signs” along the ecliptic: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius. In the geocentric model, these constellations divided the heavens’ orbit into twelve equal sections (Heaven), which in turn were grouped into four sections in reference to the quart…

1. Concept The word ‘fetish’ derives from the Portugues feitiço (“spell”, “amulet”), which in turn derives from the Latin facticius (“artificial”) and is related to  feitiçeiro (“sorcerer”) and  feitiçaria (“sorcery”). The term became established in Portugal from the Late Middle Ages, and subsequently enjoyed an astonishing career in the early modern period, through to Karl Marx’ “commodity fetishism” in the 19th century [5. 13 f.].Jörn Sieglerschmidt 2. Africa Feitiços were already mentioned in Portugal in the first edict against witches (1385), and the word …

1. Etymology and definitionThe Greek words for order ( kósmos, táxis, and thésis: cosmos, order, and arrangement) correspond to the Latin term  ordo, which was borrowed by most European languages. In early modern natural philosophy,  ordo was complemented by the term  scala (“stepladder”), a hierarchical order (Scala naturae). The Greek word  cháos (“gaping void”) denoting the still disordered primal state of the world likewise prevailed in the languages of Europe as the opposite of order. These terms were used in the early modern period (an…

1. Etymology and definitionThe word physiognomy (German Physiognomik, Middle English  fisnomy) is derived from Greek  physiognomonikḗ téchne; it means the art of perceiving the total nature of a person’s body from outward signs (literally “perception according to nature”). While physiognomics is more concerned with the narrower field of corporeal signs, physiognomy as it developed in the late Middle Ages and early modern period should be understood as a comprehensive theory of the correlation of all natural things. That said, there is no generally accepted usage even today.P…

1. Definition and overview Contingency and chance are concepts by which, since the dawn of history, people have sought to understand the world, especially the vicissitudes and shocks of life and natural phenomena. The two belong to the same field of meaning, with contingency denoting the fundamental openness or indeterminacy of human existence and its history. Chance, meanwhile, is invoked in specific circumstances, for instance to explain particular events.Historically speaking, the concept of chance has manifested itself in various guises that considerably exp…

1. Concept and forms A herbarium in the strict sense in the early modern period was a collection of dried specimens of plants and plant parts affixed to paper. Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, who wrote a guide to the preparation of dried plants in 1700, not long after Wilhelm Lauremberg and Moritz Hofmann, saw the advantage as being able to make observations regardless of season [1. 671].In a wider sense known since antiquity, the paintings, and later prints and colored illustrations and descriptions of plants were also considered part of the phenomenon. Coll…