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Agricola is a farming game that shares a name with a (mildly) famous Roman general. They have the same pronunciation, i.e. the game is not pronounced as agri-cola.

Given that Agricola the general isn't super famous, especially not as a farmer, then why does the game share his name?

1 Answers1

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“Agricola” is the Latin word for “farmer” (dictionary).

It is derived from “ager” (“field”) and “-cola” (“-tiller”, “-cultivator”). “Agriculture” shares the same root, and so does “acre” (albeit indirectly).

That a Roman general had it as his last name is unrelated.

ikegami
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RemcoGerlich
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    I think my question came about by having an interest in Roman history but no knowledge of Latin :-) –  Feb 26 '19 at 12:32
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    It's probably not totally unrelated - I'll bet that the general was a farmer or was descended from farmers. – Arcanist Lupus Feb 26 '19 at 14:18
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    @ArcanistLupus Probably not unrelated, yeah. One of the Roman naming conventions was occupational names, like the English last names Smith, Cooper, Taylor, etc. – Andrew Feb 26 '19 at 15:26
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    @ArcanistLupus: OK, but the general is unrelated to the game. – RemcoGerlich Feb 26 '19 at 15:42
  • @Zombie_Gamer Never mind. History is written by the winning generals, not the farmers. – Rosie F Feb 26 '19 at 17:51
  • FWIW, "Agricola" is also a word in Spanish (which is derived from Latin), and is an adjective that basically means "pertaining to Agriculture" – DarkCygnus Feb 27 '19 at 00:17
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    @ArcanistLupus Well, yes. Probably almost every Roman was. – sgf Feb 27 '19 at 14:07