The first soil

If you're going to grow some potted plants or a garden, you need soil.

 

Not dirt, soil.

 

It is possible that the soil in your yard might be good enough for a garden, but it's likely you'd buy something at the garden centre to enhance it.

 

And if you were setting up potted plants, you almost certainly would buy soil, not just grab a shovelful of dirt from your yard.

 

 

I wonder when this distinction between soil and dirt originated?

 

At some point early in agricultural history, people would have figured out that some areas are better for growing food than others. How long did it take them to figure out it's the soil? (Rather than the hilliness or which trees are growing nearby or which areas are under the protection of which gods?) (Although, also, which trees are growing nearby might also be a function of the soil.)

 

Someone came up with the idea of adding stuff to soil to make it richer and more fertile. Once commerce existed, these soil additives would have been sold, and, eventually, someone came up with the idea of packaging and selling the soil itself.

 

And now we live in a world where you buy soil, because you can't just plant your houseplants in any old dirt.

 

Although, when I mentioned this to someone who knows more about plants than I do, they pointed out that commercial potting soil that you'd buy for indoor plants has the benefit of having been sterilized, so it's far less likely to have contaminants or pests in it.

 

Which I am completely onside with, but it is kind of funny that we buy soil instead of using dirt because the dirt is dirty.

 

 

Also, fun with the English language: If something is soiled, it most likely doesn't have soil on it. But if something is dirty, it might have soil on it.