Bushcraft is a word used as a catchall for wilderness survival
skills. However, what about woodcraft, is
bushcraft more correct than woodcraft and what does it all mean?
The earliest reference to the word woodcraft that I
could find was published in 1847, in A Complete Dictionary of the English
and German and German and English, in which was written “wood-craft… according to, in the
manner of a huntsman”. Webster’s
Third New International Dictionary, defines woodcraft as “skill and practice in anything relating to
the woods and esp. in maintaining oneself and making one’s way in hunting or
trapping, or in tracking and studying wildlife”. And finally, Ernest Thompson Seton wrote in
1921, that “By Woodcraft I mean outdoor
life in its broadest sense…”, and “Woodcraft
is the first of all sciences…”, he also wrote “Woodcraft in a larger sense – meaning every accomplishment of an
all-round Woodman – Riding, Hunting, Camper-craft, Scouting, Mountaineering,
Indian-craft, First aid, Star-craft, signaling…”.
The earliest definition of bushcraft that I found was
in The Productions, Industry, and Resources of New South Wales (1853)
whose authors wrote, “…we use the term Bushcraft
as an appropriate one for that knowledge of the wilderness and its ways which
is elsewhere called Woodcraft.” Webster’s
Third New International Dictionary, defines bushcraft as “the skill gained by or necessary for living
in bush country” and further defines bush country as “any of certain vast and sparsely settled geographical areas esp. in New
Zealand, Australia, Africa and Canada”.
Additionally, Charles L. Money in Knocking about in New Zealand
(1871) wrote that he learned “…lessons in
bushcraft, such as knowledge of edible herbs and roots, and modes of crossing
rivers, snaring birds, and many other invaluable ‘wrinkles’…”.
It would appear that neither bushcraft nor woodcraft
is as a word any more correct than the other is and that they both describe
the same skill sets. Historically woodcraft
described the skills that were necessary to survive and travel in the woods of
the United States and bushcraft described the same skills, when they were used
to travel and survive in the wilderness areas of the British Empire. As I am writing from the United States, to be
historically consistent, I will be using the word woodcraft.
References:
Johann
Gottfried Flügel, A Complete Dictionary of the English and
German and German and English, (Leipzig, 1847), 537. Reprinted in https://books.google.se/books?id=MSMtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA537&dq=woodcraft&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjdua__iZvdAhXQKiwKHeXHASsQ6AEIUDAH#v=onepage&q=woodcraft&f=false
(accessed 9/1/18)
Webster’s Third New International
Dictionary, Vol. I to III, (Merriam-Webster Inc., 1986), 301-302
and 2631.
Ernest Thompson Seton, The Book Of Woodcraft, (Garden City, NY: Garden City
Publishing Co. Inc., 1921), Preface & 5.
Charles St. Julian and Edward K. Silvester, The
Productions, Industry, and Resources of New South Wales, (Sydney: J. Moore
on George Street, 1853), 95-96. Reprinted in https://books.google.se/books?id=C6ZJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA95&dq=bushcraft&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-h46UhpvdAhVCDywKHbXVAtkQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=bushcraft&f=false
(accessed 9/1/18)
Charles L. Money, Knocking about in New Zealand,
(Melbourne: Samuel Mullen, 55 Collins Street East, 1871), 29. Reprinted in https://books.google.se/books?id=KpstAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA29&dq=bushcraft&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-h46UhpvdAhVCDywKHbXVAtkQ6AEIPjAE#v=onepage&q=bushcraft&f=false
(accessed 9/1/18)
