Reading Ranciere still, found a quote I’d forgotten, from the German Ideology:
“[L]ife involves before everything else eating and drinking, housing, clothing and various other things. The first historical act is thus the production of the means to satisfy these needs, the production of material life itself. And indeed this is an historical act, a fundamental condition of all history, which today, as thousands of years ago, must daily and hourly be fulfilled merely in order to sustain human life.”
Some thoughts… First, on the term “historical act” as a fundamental condition for all history. If history means “the sum total of historical acts” then the first historical act can’t really be the foundation for all historical acts, as that would introduce the problem of creation ex nihilo. It doesn’t say “the”, though, it’s just “a” fundamental condition. So the first historical act was tremendously important to all other subsequent historical acts. Fair enough. Asking after causal origins is limited, but presumably the first historical act itself came from somewhere, having a sort of pre-historical act or/as fundamental condition. At least that seems to make sense.
How can “the production of material life itself” be the first historical act, though? That would make life and history co-terminous. Where there is life there is history. I’m open to that, but I’d be surprised if Marx and Engels were. The first historical act, then, would be the production of material life out of the absence of material life. That is, the first historical act was either the production of material life out of non-material life, or the production material life out of material non-life. The former doesn’t make sense to me, so I guess it must be the latter.
Hang on a minute, though. The first historical act isn’t exactly the production of life, so much as “the production of the means to satisfy” the needs of life. That is, the production of the conditions for life. This has at least two possible sense. One is the first historical act as the production of the conditions out of which life emerged. That is, the production of the conditions of possibility of life’s beginning for the first time. The first historical act, then, is not the production of life, but the production of the possibility or potential for life. This would be connected to the production material life out of material non-life. Or, this could be the production of the conditions from which life - already existing life - would have some chance at survival. The conditions in which life could take, so to speak, in which life could last.
All of this is rather odd (”abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties”) and its pursuit is probably not worth much. A few things, though. The quote is readable in line with Althusser, who I think was referencing Spinoza, when he said that what matters is that a thing lasts - what matters is persistence over time, or how a thing is reproduced. Hence the need to study v2 of Capital and the ways capitalism is reproduced. For the first historical act could be thought to be the condition in which life secures its reproduction. This act, however, is not permanent.
The security of life is only temporary. Life is mortal and is exposed to the possibilty of nonreproduction, of death. Security is a relative thing, indicating some relative distance from the likelihood of death or other worsening conditions - which implies that precarity indicates some relative proximity to these, relatively greater than the proximity of that termed security. Life on the border of death, life right before it dies - “right before” is misleading, of course, since this a fuzzy area - is bare life, life distinct from death only in that it is not death. There is a sense in which the proletariat is a sort of reproduction as bare life. Proletarian: ” from L. proletarius “citizen of the lowest class,” in ancient Rome, propertyless people, exempted from taxes and military service, who served the state only by having children; from proles “offspring, progeny”(Via.) The proletariat are defined by their being prolific (from Fr. prolifique, from M.L. prolificus, from L. proles “offspring” + root of facere “to make, [via]).
This is only a sense, however, a conceptual definition which indicates merely one possible direction of historical events (a direction too often already conceded in theory). Agamben’s writing on Artistotle and ontology are useful here, maybe, (never thought I’d say that!). Agamben notes that potentiality is always also impotentiality. That is, potential-to is always potential-not-to. A piece of wood has the potential to become a beam supporting the ceiling of a house, to become a sculpture, to become a club, to become heat and ashes, etc etc. That it is not any of these things yet is it’s impotentiality it’s potential to not become any of these things. Similarly, that the proletariat is not yet dead means it has a potential to not die. That much of the proletariat is not actually bare life means that being bare life is not the telos of being proletarian. That life is bare rather than dead means life has the potential not to die, and that some life is not bare life means that bare life is not the telos of life. It is not an ontological condition in the sense of a fixed and ineliminable state of affairs or quality. But I digress.
I think there’s an aspect in Marx and certain in Marxism of treating the proletariat’s negative conditions as a foregone conclusion (this might be one of the Marxes that Althusser dislikes), and there’s a sense in which there’s a treating of the proletariat something like bare life at work in some of this as well.
There’s another thing about this quote that I find interesting. The first historical act is first in two senses. It is first in the sense of being originary, the very first, time T1 which every other momeny comes after (in a linear series through homogeneous empty time). It is also first in the sense of being logically first, a first principle, prior in the sense of fundamental or foundational. That is, in the sense of a condition which needs to be continually reproduced. The first of these firsts might be said to be phylogenetic, the second to be ontogenetic. The first historical act “must daily and hourly be fulfilled,” that is, must be repeated, posited again and again, “merely in order to sustain human life.” This is similar to how I like to read primitive accumulation in Marx (following Bonefeld and others, who I’ll link to later).
Fun with the dictionary…
Proles
Progeny, offspring; in phrase sine prole (abbrev. s.p.), without offspring or issue.
1672 Cowell’s Interpr., Proles, in English Progeny, is properly such as proceed from a lawful Marriage. 1706 in PHILLIPS. 1730-6 BAILEY (folio), Proles, the issue of a person’s body; an offspring, stock, or race. 1848-83 in WHARTON Law Lex. 1886 in Cassell’s Encycl. Dict.
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Poletaneous
(See quot.)
1656 BLOUNT Glossogr., Proletaneous, of a poor and base condition, that has many children, and little maintenance, or that gives nothing to the Commonwealth, but onely a supply of children. 1658 in PHILLIPS. 1775 in ASH. 1847 in WEBSTER. Hence in mod. Dicts.
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Proletarious
Pertaining to or characteristic of the proletariate; vulgar: see quot.
1656 BLOUNT Glossogr. s.v., A Proletarious Speech (proletarius sermo) the common and vulgar speech, complement or words of course; As when one says to his friend; Pardon my boldness, and the other answers, You are not so bold as welcome, or the like.
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Proletary
A. adj. = PROLETARIAN a.
1609 HOLLAND Amm. Marcell. 138 He should gaine a number of proletairie subjects to multiplie and beget issue. 1656 J. HARRINGTON Oceana Wks. (1700) 184 The sixth [class] being Proletary, that is..such as thro their poverty contributed nothing to the Commonwealth but Children. 1854 J. MARTINEAU Prospective Rev. Ess. 1891 II. 313 The increase of a proletary class. 1884 LOWELL Democr. (1887) 7 The change from an agricultural to a proletary population.
B. n. = PROLETARIAN n.
Used in 16th and early 17th c. Reintroduced in 19th as substitute for proletaire.
1579 J. JONES Preserv. Bodie & Soule I. xix. 37 The Assyrians and Babilonians boughte their wiues.., but after vsed mariages, regarding therewith their Prolataries, as the Spartanes didde them that begatte their men children. 1610 HEALEY tr. Vives’ St. Aug. Citie of God 125 A Proletary or Brood-man..reserued onely to beget children. 1621 BURTON Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. (1676) 19/2 Of 15000 proletaries slain in a battel, scarce fifteen are recorded in history.
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Proletical
Of or pertaining to the lower orders of the community; hence, vulgar, common, popular.
1659 HOWELL Lexicon, Proverbs Pref. av, Let the squeamish Reder take this Rule along with him, that Proverbs being Proleticall, and free familiar Countrey sayings do assume the Libertie to be sometimes in plain, down-right, and homely termes.
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Prolicide
The killing of offspring; spec. the crime of destroying offspring either before or soon after birth. Hence proli{sm}cidal a., of, pertaining to, or characterized by prolicide.
1842 DUNGLISON Med. Lex., Prolicide, a term which includes f{oe}ticide as well as infanticide. 1887 J. F. T. KEANE Three Years Wand. Life I. i. 8 The prolicidal mania which has possessed England during the last two decades.
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Prolify
intr. To produce offspring.
1605 TIMME Quersit. II. xiv. 67 The white [of eggs]..having in [it] the prolifying power, whereof chiefly the bird is begotten. 1659 SANDERSON Wks. (1854) V. 338 There remained in the heart of such some piece of ill-temper unreformed, which in time prolified, and sent out great and wasting sins.
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Prolific
1. Generating or producing offspring; generative, reproductive; fertile, not barren.
1650 BULWER Anthropomet. 233 The better portion of the Prolifique Seed flowes down from the Brain and spinal Marrow. 1667 MILTON P.L. VII. 280 Main Ocean flow’d, not idle, but with warme Prolific humour soft’ning all her Globe. 1691 RAY Creation I. (1692) 6 The breed of such Mixtures [of dogs] being prolifick. 1741 tr. D’Argens’ Chinese Lett. ix. 54 By Misfortune, the prolific Virtue was quite extinct in him. 1881 MIVART Cat 8 The domestic cat begins..to reproduce by the end of the first year of her life, and she is prolific to her ninth.
b. Bot. Producing fertile seed.
1828 SIR J. E. SMITH Eng. Flora II. 100 Pastinaca. Parsnep… Fl. all regular, uniform, perfect, and generally prolific.
2. a. Producing much offspring or fruit; abundantly productive; fruitful. Also fig. of things.
1653 JER. TAYLOR Serm. for Year I. xxiii. 302 Covetousnesse being..so originall a crime, such a prolifick sin. 1775 JOHNSON Tax. no Tyr. 7 To attack a nation thus prolific. 1794 S. WILLIAMS Vermont 84 The wolf is a very prolific animal. 1832 H. MARTINEAU Brooke Farm viii, We should have no idea how prolific the soil might be made. a1850 J. C. CALHOUN Wks. (1874) III. 393 The public lands{em}that prolific source of corruption in the hands of the profligate. 1856 KANE Arct. Expl. II. xxviii. 283 One of the most prolific bird-colonies of the coast. 1875 JOWETT Plato (ed. 2) I. 134 Some he made to have few young ones, while those who were their prey were very prolific.
b. Abundantly productive of; abounding in.
1693 PEPYS in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 213 This age being not very prolifique of customers for such a commodity. 1795 G. WAKEFIELD Reply 2nd Pt. Paine 25 Whether ancient times were prolific in such stupid beings as these. 1842 J. WILSON Chr. North (1857) I. 141 The heather and the clover were prolific of the honey-dew. 1869 DUNKIN Midn. Sky 32 This constellation is very prolific in stars of the fourth and fifth magnitudes.
3. Causing abundant production; fertilizing.
1669 GALE Crt. Gentiles I. II. viii. 103 The Sun having such a prolific and powerful influence on al sublunaries. 1727 SWIFT Modest Proposal Wks. 1755 II. II. 62 Fish being a prolific dyet, there are more children born in roman catholick countries about nine months after Lent. 1738 GLOVER Leonidas II. 253 By Nile’s prolific torrents delug’d o’er. 1858 EMERSON Lett. & Soc. Aims, Pers. Poetry Wks. (Bohn) III. 238 The prolific sun, and the sudden and rank plenty which his heat engenders.
b. Characterized by abundant production; fruitful.
1695 LD. PRESTON Boeth. Pref. 5 Born in an healthful and prolifick Climate. 1850 W. IRVING Mahomet, Successors xiii. (1853) 58 The country..was..adapted for the vigorous support and prolific increase of animal life. Mod. This has been a prolific year for apples.
ADDITIONS SERIES 1993
prolific, a.
Add: [2.] c. Of a creative artist: producing much work.
1931 H. READ Meaning of Art II. 121 Delacroix was one of the most prolific of painters. 1969 J. GROSS Rise & Fall Man of Letters v. 132 An astonishingly prolific writer, in his own time Lang enjoyed a dozen different reputations: the collections of fairy tales and the translations of Homer which keep his name current represent only a fraction of his output. 1980 ‘M. FONTEYN’ Magic of Dance 271 The most successful, and undoubtedly most prolific, house composer was an Italian, Cesare Pugni, with three hundred and twelve ballets to his credit. 1985 B. GUEST Herself Defined iii. 29 May Sinclair was a prolific novelist whose books sold well.
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Proletarianization
The fact or process of rendering or becoming proletarian (sense c).
1920 19th Cent. Sept. 445 If State agriculture in Russia comes to be on a larger scale, will there not be a sort of proletarianisation of the peasants? 1936 ‘H. MACDIARMID’ Lucky Poet (1943) iii. 145 The line we advocate..will..greatly speed up the proletarianization of Scottish Arts and Letters. 1948 C. S. FOX tr. Röpke’s Civitas Humana III. vi. 140 Proletarianisation means..that human beings have got into a highly dangerous sociological and anthropological state which is characterised by lack of property, lack of reserves of every kind.., by economic servitude, uprooting, massed living quarters, militarisation of work..; in short, by a general devitalisation and loss of personality. 1961 L. P. HARTLEY Two for River 45 The appalling vulgarity of that town! Nowhere has the proletarianization of the English race gone so fast, or so far. 1966 F. SCHURMANN Ideology & Organization in Communist China i. 40 Given the unilinear development of history, the process of world-wide proletarianization is inevitable. 1974 Daily Tel. 24 May 3/2 The initiative for getting rid of the oak tables came from one or two students keen to promote the ‘proletarianisation’ of the college. 1977 P. JOHNSON Enemies of Society xiv. 190 The proletarianization of the British middle class, that leading creator and custodian of western civilization, is one of the most significant social changes of our times.
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Proletarian
A. adj. Of or pertaining to the lowest class of the people. {dag}a. In hostile use: Vile, low, vulgar. Obs.
1663 BUTLER Hud. I. i. 720 We that are wisely mounted higher..Like Speculators should foresee.., Portended Mischiefs farther then Low Proletarian Tithing men. 1676 Doctrine of Devils 96 Much wiser (not only than the Proletarian rabble, but than they too, who profess themselves to be the great Philosophers). a1734 NORTH Exam. I. ii. §155 (1740) 117 To have let in the rest of the Proletarian Rout of Villains, that waited without to be employed as Witnesses.
b. Of ancient Romans: cf. PROLETARIAT 1.
1839 DE QUINCEY Casuistry Rom. Meals Misc. I. 250 Every citizen, if he were not a mere proletarian animal kept at the public cost, with a view to his proles or offspring, held himself a soldier-elect.
c. Of or pertaining to the proletariat in the modern sense. proletarian revolution: the stage of political development predicted by Marx when the proletarians would overthrow capitalism.
1851 SIR F. PALGRAVE Norm. & Eng. I. 49 The proletarian populace of the great cities. 1874 L. CARR Jud. Gwynne I. iii. 72 A she-costermonger, or other female of the proletarian classes. 1885 Manch. Exam. 17 Jan. 5/5 Typically the proletarian and suffering part of the metropolis. 1903 G. B. SHAW Man & Superman v. 196 We have been driven to Proletarian Democracy by the failure of all the alternative systems. 1925 tr. Lenin’s Proletarian Revolution i. 11 Almost a third of this pamphlet..is devoted by this windbag to a twaddle which must be very agreeable to the bourgeoisie, as it..obscures the question of the proletarian revolution. 1934 C. LAMBERT Music Ho! IV. 248 The sleeves themselves are rolled up in the most approved proletarian fashion. 1935 W. EMPSON Some Versions of Pastoral 3 It is hard for an Englishman to talk definitely about proletarian art. 1966 Guardian 13 Dec. 8/2 [China] The example of the great proletarian cultural revolution. 1973 C. D. KERNIG Marxism, Communism & Western Society VII. 238/1 The proletarian revolution becomes an act of human emancipation or the self-realization of man after his self-alienation. 1975 Chinese Econ. Stud. VIII. IV. 3 Countless proletarian heroes have suddenly emerged. 1976 Times 28 Sept. (China Suppl.) 10/3 Under the banner of ‘proletarian internationalism’ ideological motives seem to be distinguishable features of Chinese aid. 1977 China Now June 4/1 Tachai is an expression of the proletarian revolution China is in the midst of today (in contrast to the democratic revolution between 1949 and 1966). 1978 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Dec. 1402/5 Sociologists and realistic novelists{em}including proletarian novelists{em}find it difficult if not impossible to describe the texture of this world.
B. n. A member of the poorest class of a community; esp. one who is without capital or regular employment; one of the proletariat.
1658 W. BURTON Itin. Anton. Ded. 1 The happinesse I enjoy by my Interest in our Nationall Rights (though a poor Proletarian). 1838-42 ARNOLD Hist. Rome II. xxxvii. 486 Even the proletarians, or the poorest class of citizens..were now called out and embodied. 1870 On the War (Internat. Working-Men’s Assoc.) 4 Mindful of the watchword of the International Working-men’s Association: Proletarians of all countries unite, we shall never forget that the workmen of all countries are our friends and the despots of all countries our enemies. 1879 Contemp. Rev. XXXVI. 290 It is almost impossible for any but a born proletarian to understand the needs, the wants, and daily lives of the proletarian. 1898 BODLEY France I. II. ii. 298 Counting as proletarians politicians who utilise the blouse as a lucrative symbol. 1966 D. WILSON Quarter of Mankind i. 7 The peasant, not the urban proletarian, is the central character in China’s drama. 1969 A. G. FRANK Latin Amer. (1970) xxiii. 360 The rural and slum proletarians..tend to be quite near-sighted and to see only the land and the jobs which they want but don’t have.
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Proletariat
1. Anc. Hist. The lowest class of the community in ancient Rome, regarded as contributing nothing to the state but offspring. Also with reference to other ancient states.
{alpha} 1861 J. G. SHEPPARD Fall Rome i. 49 In the days of Marius, its old aristocratical distinctions were abandoned in the ranks, and the proletariat admitted upon terms of equality. 1871 FARRAR Witn. Hist. v. 189 Athens had her slaves, Sparta her helots, Rome her proletariat.
{beta} 1868 ‘OUIDA’ Tricotrin I. 138 Rome{em}with her vast proletariate and her vast armies lulled the hungry cry. 1879 FARRAR St. Paul I. 558 It was from this city [Corinth] and amid its abandoned proletariate that the Apostle dictated his frightful sketch of Paganism.
2. In reference to modern society. a. Applied to the lowest class of the community. Often with hostile connotation.
{alpha} 1853 Times 19 Nov. 8/5 We are encouraged to fling the boroughs into the hands of a poor, ignorant, and venal proletariat. 1878 N. American Review CXXVII. 4 A discontented proletariat beneath. 1879 H. GEORGE Progr. & Pov. VII. iv. (1881) 336 To swell the ranks of the proletariat who had nothing to sell but their votes.
{beta} 1865 MAFFEI Brigand Life II. 185 [It] would produce..the wholesome effect..of destroying that savage proletariate. 1873 L. STEPHEN Ess. Freethinking 113 When a Church loses its hold on the intellectual classes, it can no longer maintain its sway over the ‘proletariate’. 1881 MISS LAFFAN in Macm. Mag. XLIV. 393 He had all the cant of the advanced school; never spoke of poor people save by the term ‘proletariate’.
fig. 1861 L. STEPHEN tr. Berlepsch’s Alps vi. 47 The proletariat of vegetation, the common people of the creeping grasses, the aggregate of which forms the rich pasturage. 1881 Nature 24 Feb. 387/1 First..was the Sparrow, the most impudent proletariat{em}I had almost said Social democrat, because the whole world today has that bad word in the mouth.
b. Pol. Econ. That class of the community which is dependent on daily labour for subsistence, and has no reserve or capital; the indigent wage-earners; sometimes extended to include all wage-earners; working men, the labouring classes. dictatorship of the proletariat: the Communist ideal of proletarian supremacy following the overthrow of capitalism and preceding the classless state.
{alpha} 1856 GEO. ELIOT in Westm. Rev. X. 75 The Proletariat, or those who are dependent on daily wages. 1869 Daily News 31 Aug., [The system] of Partnerships of Industry..may need for its development a more cultivated proletariat and a capitalist class less anxious to be rich. 1880 WOOLSEY Communism & Soc. iv. §1. 127 The proletariat, as the agitators delighted to call the standing class of operatives: meaning by this Roman term..those who had only hands to work with and no laid-up capital. 1883 HYNDMAN Socialism v, The growth of the powerful capitalist class on the one hand, and of the proletariat or hand-to-mouth wage-earners on the other. 1886 tr. Marx’s Manifesto of Communists 8 The small middle class, the artisans, merchants, mechanics, shopkeepers, and farmers, are all doomed to fall into the ranks of the Proletariat, because their small capital cannot compete with that of the millionaire, and..their skill is depreciated by new modes of production. Thus the Proletariat recruits from all classes of population. 1927 H. LASKI Let. 20 Nov. in Holmes{em}Laski Lett. (1953) II. 998 Did I tell you that I have traced the origins of the famous ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’ to Babeuf? 1937 E. ST. V. MILLAY Conversation at Midnight ii. 69 The dictatorship of the proletariat, though not yet present and in this room, is a fact! 1941 New Statesman 19 Apr. 407/1 Unluckily the proletariat are even more conservative in their food than the bourgeoisie. 1964 P. G. CASANOVA in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 71 Mills..could not believe that Marx’s view that the proletariat was the force of history could be applied to the United States of 1960. 1972 W. LEONHARD in C. D. Kernig Marxism, Communism & Western Society II. 429/2 The term ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ was probably coined in 1837 by Auguste Blanqui. Ibid. 434/1 After Stalin’s death..a change again took place in the Soviet presentation of the dictatorship of the proletariat. 1976 T. EAGLETON Crit. & Ideology ii. 58 In nineteenth-century England..there were sound political reasons why the proletariat should be excluded from literacy, but sound religious reasons why it should not be.
{beta} 1858 Brit. Q. Rev. LVI. 442 Who will make up his ‘proletariate’, or, in unambitious English, ‘labouring classes’. 1884 Illustr. Lond. News 16 Feb. 150/2 That it is directed against the liberty of the proletariate. 1920 M. BEER Hist. Brit. Socialism II. III. vi. 120 O’Brien’s was the policy of a relentless class war by a proletariate that was absolutely unable to convert its votes into political power.
3. attrib. or as adj.
1867 G. LUSHINGTON in Quest. Reformed Parl. 42 Imagine an employer of labour..placed in the dock before a Proletariat Magistrate. 1868 Blackw. Mag. Mar. 298 The French Revolution, by destroying the aristocratic character of the clergy, gave birth to a caste of proletariat priests. 1889 Academy 29 June 441/1 Efforts of philanthropy at the improvement of the proletariate classes.
Hence prole{sm}tariatism, the principles and aims of a proletariat; cf. PROLETARIANISM.
1879 BARING-GOULD Germany II. 289 The future battle between property and proletariatism.
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And Eagleton:
“In the ancient world the word “proletariat” (proletarius in Latin) referred to those who served the state by producing children (who manufactured labour power) because they were too poor to serve it by property. The proletariat, in other words, is as much about sexual as material production; and since the burden of sexual reproduction falls more upon women than men, it’s no hyperbole to say that in the world of antiquity, the working class was a woman. As, indeed, it is increasingly today. The geographer David Harvey speaks of the oppositional forces of the future as the ‘feminised proletariat’. Those dreary old bickerings between socialists and feminists are being made increasingly redundant by advanced capitalism itself. It’s capitalism that is throwing socialists and feminists into each other’s arms. (I speak metaphorically.) Of course, these oppositional forces may fail. But that’s a different matter to their not existing in the first place.”
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/arts/x-feb02-eagleton.htm
Comment by Nate — October 31, 2006 @ 4:51 pm
And …
Labor
[a. OF. labor, labour (mod.F. labeur), ad. L. lab{omac}rem labour, toil, distress, trouble. Cf. Pr. labor, laor, Sp. labor, Pg. lavor, It. labore.
As in favour, etc., the spelling with -our is preferred in the British Isles, while in the U.S. -or is more common.]
1. a. Exertion of the faculties of the body or mind, esp. when painful or compulsory; bodily or mental toil. hard labour: see HARD a. 19b. {dag}to do one’s labour: to exert oneself, make efforts (to do something).
a1300 Cursor M. 23699 {Th}an sal it [{th}e erth] blisced be and quit o labur, and o soru, and sit. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 633 Why schulde he not her [i.e. innocents’] labour alow? c1386 CHAUCER Prioress’ T. 11 To telle a storie I wol do my labour. c1400 Destr. Troy 10770 Hit were labur to long hir lotis to tell. 1484 CAXTON Fables of Auian (1889) 2 He that wylle haue..worship and glorye may not haue hit withoute grete laboure. 1533 GAU Richt Vay (1888) 93 O heuinlie fader giff vsz alsua necessar thingis to our corporal sustentatione be our aune richtus laubour. 1535 COVERDALE Eccl. ii. 18, I was weery of all my laboure, Which I had taken vnder the Sonne. 1611 BIBLE Ps. civ. 23 Man goeth forth vnto his worke: and to his labour, vntill the euening. 1619 DRAYTON Idea lix, Labour is light where Loue..doth pay. 1667 MILTON P.L. II. 1021 So he with difficulty and labour hard Mov’d on, with difficulty and labour hee. 1752 HUME Pol. Disc. i. 12 Everything in the world is purchas’d by labour, and our passions are the only causes of labour. 1781 COWPER Hope 20 Pleasure is labour too, and tires as much. 1827 LYTTON Falkland 15 Nothing seemed to me worth the labour of success. 1833 TENNYSON Lotos-Eaters 87 Ah, why Should life all labour be?
personified. c1400 Rom. Rose 4994 With hir Labour and Travaile Logged been. 1764 GOLDSM. Trav. 82 Nature..Still grants her bliss at Labour’s earnest call. 1804 GRAHAME Sabbath 2 Mute is the voice of rural labour.
transf. 1842 COMBE Digest. 267 The stomach, having less labour imposed upon it, will require less blood.
b. Phr. labour in vain, lost labour.
[1377 LANGL. P. Pl. B. Prol. 181 [They] helden hem vnhardy and here conseille feble, And leten here labowre lost & alle here longe studye. 1390 GOWER Conf. III. 293 Whan he sigh..that his labour was in veine.] 1500-20 DUNBAR Poems lxvi. 13 The leill labour lost, and leill seruice. 1535 COVERDALE Ps. cxxvii. 2 It is but lost labour that ye ryse vp early. 1615 T. ADAMS England’s Sickn. 10 Let Nature doe her best, we dwelt at the Signe of the Labour-in-vaine. Onely Christ hath washed vs. a1670 HACKET Abp. Williams II. (1693) 67 That Commission ended at Labour in vain; not, as the old Emblem is, to go about to make a Black-moor white, but to make him that was White to appear like a Black-moor. 1679 DRYDEN Tr. & Cr. II. ii, The sign-post for the labour in vain. 1747 WESLEY Prim. Physick (1762) p. xviii, Add to the rest (for it is not labour lost) that old unfashionable medicine, Prayer.
{dag}c. Bodily exercise. (Cf. Gr. {pi}{goacu}{nu}{omicron}{fsigma}.)
1584 COGAN Haven Health i. (1612) 1 Labour then, or exercise is a vehement moouing, the end whereof is alteration of the breath or winde of man. 1666 HARVEY Morb. Angl. x. (1672) 28 Moderate labour of the body is universally experienced to conduce to the preservation of health.
{dag}d. An alleged term for a ‘company’ of moles.
1486 Bk. St. Albans fvjb, A Labor of Mollis.
2. a. spec. in modern use: Physical exertion directed to the supply of the material wants of the community; the specific service rendered to production by the labourer and artisan.
1776 ADAM SMITH W.N. I. Introd. 1 The annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniencies of life, which it annually consumes. Ibid. I. I. v. 35 Labour, therefore, is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities. 1798 MALTHUS Popul. IV. iv. (1806) II. 348 If the population of this country were better proportioned to its food, the nominal price of labour might be lower than it is now. 1825 Edin. Rev. XLIII. 14 The..remedy is to diminish the supply of labour. 1842-59 GWILT Archit. Gloss., Labour, a term in masonry employed to denote the value of a piece of work in consideration of the time bestowed upon it. 1848 MILL Pol. Econ. I. iii. §1 (1876) 28 Labour is indispensable to production, but has not always production for its effect. 1863 BARRY Dockyard Econ. 45 The difficulty of organising labour, particularly in masses, is well known. 1885 Act 48 & 49 Vict. c. 56 Preamble, Doubts have arisen as to whether or not it be lawful for an employer of labour to permit electors in his regular employ to absent themselves.
b. The general body of labourers and operatives, viewed in its relation to the body of capitalists, or with regard to its political interests and claims. Chiefly attrib. (see
.
1839 J. F. BRAY (title) Labour’s wrongs and labour’s remedy; or, The age of might and the age of right. 1848 Punch XV. 261 Thither [sc. to Australia] should Labour repair to seek Demand. 1880 S. WALPOLE Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 228 Labour..was gradually discovering the truth of the old saying, that God helps those who help themselves. a1901 Mod. The parliamentary representation of labour. 1916 A. RICHARDSON Man-Power of Nation 55 The time is..opportune for trade unions to recognise their responsibility for the encouragement of the flow of capital for the benefit of industry… This subject of the relationship of labour to economy of output may be said to be hackneyed. 1940 W. TEMPLE Hope of New World 61 If there is to be tension at all, let it be between the financial interests of Shareholders and the productive interests of Management and Labour in co-operation. 1970 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 652/2 Until after the turn of the century organized labour seldom gained any measure of public sympathy.
c. (With capital initial.) Short for ‘the Labour Party’. Also attrib. (see sense
. quasi-adv. in phr. to vote Labour.
1906 Times 19 Jan. 4/3 (heading) The Liberals and the Labour men. Ibid. 10/1 Just before going to press the news arrived that Lord Stanley..had been defeated..by Mr. W. T. Wilson (Labour). 1918 A. HUXLEY Let. 25 Nov. (1969) 171 Tell Brett also to remember to vote, and to vote Labour, our only hope. 1920 Manch. Guardian 5 Jan. 6/2 Could any conceivable Labour Government have made blunders so gross? 1924 Ibid. 2 May 9/1 The Labour party and Labour leaders have always been divided upon the subject of P.R. [Proportional Representation]. 1932 J. BUCHAN Gap in Curtain iii. 149 The younger Tories as a whole were enthusiastic, and, what is more significant, the Left Wing of Labour blessed it cordially. Ibid., Collinson, a young Labour member from the Midlands, declared that Geraldine was the best Socialist of them all. 1945 Let us face the Future (Labour Party) x. 10 Labour led the fight against the mean and shabby treatment which was the lot of millions while Conservative Governments were in power. 1949 LEWIS & MAUDE Eng. Middle Classes I. iv. 81 Both Conservatives and Labour competed for the middle-class vote. Ibid. 82 The new Labour formula was nicely expressed by Philip Snowden. 1956 C. COCKBURN In Time of Trouble xix. 244 The Labour people, the ‘progressive intellectuals’. 1966 M. EDELMAN The ‘Mirror’ viii. 151 Its brilliance was that at no time did the Mirror specifically urge its voters to vote Labour. 1971 B. HINDESS Decline Working-Class Politics viii. 173 The teenagers of the 1960s..missed the political experience of their parents, the long identification with and support for Labour.
d. Short for LABOUR EXCHANGE 2.
1935 M. HARRISON Spring in Tartarus I. 105 You see, mister, I can’t go on the Labour, cause I ‘aven’t been stood off. I’m on’y ill. 1963 T. PARKER Unknown Citizen iii. 88 I’ll ring you up Monday to tell you how I went on at the Labour. 1971 R. RENDELL One Across iv. 37 Work’s not easy to come by when you’ve no qualifications… Can’t they find you anything down at the Labour? 1972 L. HENDERSON Cage until Tame vi. 45 I’m going for a job the Labour picked out for me.
3. An instance of bodily or mental exertion; a work or task performed or to be performed. a labour of Hercules, a Herculean labour: a task requiring enormous strength. labour of love (see LOVE n.1).
a1300 Cursor M. 2229, I rede we bigin a laboure..and make a toure. 1432-50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 11 If that a pigmei scholde make him redy to conflicte after the labores of Hercules..plenerly finischede. 1535 COVERDALE Rev. xiv. 13 Yee the sprete sayeth, that they rest from their laboures. 1539 TAVERNER Prov. 34 Laboures ones done, be swete. 1596 SHAKES. Tam. Shr. I. ii. 257. 1599 {emem} Much Ado II. i. 380. 1604 E. G[RIMSTONE] D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies IV. vii. 226 They are two insupportable labours in searching of the mettall; first to digge and breake the rockes, and then to drawe out the water all together. 1617, 1732 [see HERCULEAN a. 3]. 1702 ROWE Tamerl. Ded., When they shall reckon up his Labours from the Battle of Seneff. 1732 LAW Serious C. iii. (ed. 2) 32 Whose lives have been a careful labour to exercise these virtues. 1835 LYTTON Rienzi I. i. 4 My labours of the body, at least, have been light enough. 1871 DAVIES Metric Syst. II. 29 The rich treasures of their labors.
4. The outcome, product, or result of toil. Also pl. Obs. exc. arch. [Cf. L. hominumque boumque labores, Virgil.]
a1300 Cursor M. 1986 {Ygh}eildes til your creatur {th}e tend part o your labour. 1432-50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 7 Y..intende to compile a tretys..excerpte of diuerse labores of auctores. 1535 COVERDALE Ps. civ. 44 They toke the labours of the people in possession. 1550 CROWLEY Epigr. 307 To worke what they can, and lyue on theyr laboures. 1611 BIBLE Transl. Pref. 12 Others haue laboured, and you may enter into their labours. 1697 DRYDEN Virg. Georg. III. 688 The waxen Labour of the Bees. 1709 SWIFT Vind. Bickerstaff Wks. 1755 II. I. 174, I saw my labours, which cost me so much thought and watching, bawled about by common hawkers. 1720 POPE Iliad XVIII. 556 Five ample plates the broad expanse [of the shield] compose, And godlike labours on the surface rose. 1736 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. IV. 176 The Thing they want is the peaceable Possession of their Labours.
{dag}5. a. Trouble or pains taken. (Occas. pl.) Obs.
14.. Sir Beues (MS. O.) 928 ‘Haue this’, he sayde, ‘for thy labour!’ 1520 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 27 The auditors..be diligent and take labors herapon. 1591 SHAKES. Two Gent. II. i. 139 If it please you, take it for your labour; And so good-morrow Seruant. 1611 BIBLE Transl. Pref. 2 The Emperour got for his labour the name Pupillus. a1656 USSHER Power of Princes II. (1683) 141 He caused the Fellow to be soundly whipped for his labour.
{dag}b. esp. The exertion of influence in furthering a matter or obtaining a favour. to make labour: = LABOUR v. 13. Obs.
1454 T. DENYES in Paston Lett. No. 199 (1897) I. 274 Aftirward my wif was sum dele easid bi the labour of the Wardeyn of Flete, for the cursid Cardenale had sent hir to Newgate. 1461 J. PASTON ibid. No. 408 II. 35, I undirstand ther shall be labour for a coroner that day, for ther is labour made to me for my good wyll here. 1482 CAXTON Chron. Eng. ccxlviii. 315 By labour of lordes that wente bytwene ther was a poyntement taken that ther was no harme done. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 22 Preamble, I pray you make laboure unto my Lady Warwyk to write to the King of Fraunce. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 42 §2 Without any further sute or labour to be made to kyngs highnes..for the same. 1542 UDALL in Lett. Lit. Men (Camd.) 2 Your labour for my restitution to the roume of Scholemaister in Eton. 1565 STOW in Three 15th c. Chron. (Camd.) 136 Ye paryshe of S. Marie Magdalyn in Mylke~stret, makynge labour to ye byshope, had by hym a mynister apoyntyd to serve them with communion that day.
6. a. The pains and efforts of childbirth; travail. Phr. in labour.
1595 SPENSER Epithal. 383 Sith of wemens labours thou hast charge, And generation goodly dost enlarge. 1611 BIBLE Gen. xxxv. 16 Rachel traueiled, and she had hard labour [COVERDALE: the byrth came harde vpon hir]. 1613 SHAKES. Hen. VIII, v. i. 18 The Queens in Labor They say in great Extremity, and fear’d Shee’l with the Labour, end. 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 477 [She] had then been in labour about two hours… Interrogating her afterwards respecting her former labours [etc.]. 1819 SHELLEY in Dowden Life (1887) II. 308 She has..brought me a fine little boy, after a labour of the very, very mildest character. 1889 J. M. DUNCAN Lect. Dis. Women vi. (ed. 4) 34 In the first labour the woman’s power and especially the labour, including the uterine, power is the greatest.
b. fig.
1606 SHAKES. Ant. & Cl. III. vii. 81 With Newes the times with Labour, And throwes forth each minute, some. 1612 BACON Ess., Beauty (Arb.) 208 As if nature were rather busie not to erre, then in labour to produce excellency. 1634 HEYWOOD Maydenhd. well lost I. B3b, My brain’s in labour, and must be deliuered Of some new mischeife. 1665 MANLEY tr. Grotius’ Low C. Warres 121 And now that sentence is brought forth, wherewith..the Warre had now been in labour for the space of nine years. 1797 T. HOLCROFT tr. Stolberg’s Trav. (ed. 2) II. lxvi. 29 We beheld..the mountain incessantly in labour.
{dag}7. Eclipse. [A Latinism.] Obs.{em}1
1697 DRYDEN Virg. Georg. II. 679 Teach me the various Labours of the Moon, And whence proceed th’ Eclipses of the Sun [L. defectus solis varios, lunæque labores].
*
Travail
n.
[a. OF. travail suffering or painful effort, trouble (12th c. in Godef. Compl.) = Prov. trebalh, Sp. trabajo, Pg. trabalho, It. travaglio; vbl. n. from travailler, etc.: see TRAVAIL v. OF. and Pr. had also fem. forms travaille, trebalha, labour, fatigue.
(As to the diverse sense-development in Fr. and in Eng. see TRAVAIL v.)]
I. 1. Bodily or mental labour or toil, especially of a painful or oppressive nature; exertion; trouble; hardship; suffering. arch.
{alpha} c1250 O. Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. 33 Clepe {th}o werkmen and yeld hem here trauail. c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 61/247 [H]is trauail nis no {th}e lasse. a1300 Cursor M. 9703 (Cott.) Qua wil for pes his trauaill [v.r. trauayl] spend. Ibid. 20942 Was nan sua mikel trauael mad. 13.. Ibid. 12765 (Gött.) Ferli {th}aim toght hu he might last, Wid sua grete trauale [other MSS. trauaile] and fast. c1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 911 He tholit trawal ful gret. c1386 CHAUCER Frankl. T. 889, I wol nat taken a peny of thee For al my craft ne noght for my trauaille [v.rr. -ayle, -aile]. 1390 GOWER Conf. III. 231 And lusti youthe his thonk deserveth Upon the travail which he doth. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 152 His modyr that..with grete trauaill hym norishid. Ibid. 158 Ne be not al tymys in traualle and in thoghtis. c1470 HENRY Wallace VI. 672 We may thaim wyne, and mak bot lycht trawaill. 1549 CROWLEY Last Trumpet 268 Then holde thy selfe therwyth contente, As wyth the wage of thy travayle. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xvii. 13 Betuix gude and euill markand our trauaill [rimes saill, fraill]. 1596 DALRYMPLE tr. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. I. (S.T.S.) I. 78 The diligens,..Industrie, and trauale of this Thanaus. 1597 HOOKER Eccl. Pol. V. lii. §1 With care and trauaile to preserue this Article from..sinister construction. 1621 H. ELSING Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) App. 146 For which my paines and travaill they gave me two pesses a manne. 1660 JER. TAYLOR Worthy Commun. Introd. 1 Faint and sick with travaile and fear. 1826 E. IRVING Babylon I. II. 64 The common everyday travail of men in trade and handicrafts. 1867 F. FRANCIS Angling xiv. (1880) 489 Ah, what travail have I not endured in the pursuit of May fly hooks.
{beta} 13.. Cursor M. 89 (Cott.) Quat bote is to sette traueil [v.rr. -ail, -ayle, -aile] On thyng {th}at may not auail. [1375 BARBOUR Bruce (MS. 1487) VII. 45 We haf tynt {th}is trauell [rime avale].] 1382 WYCLIF Gen. xxxi. 42 Myn affliccioun and the traueil of myn hondis the Lord bihelde. c1400 Rule St. Benet 1855 For vnto trauel wor we born, And al our elders vs be-forn. c1450 Merlin ii. 26 He that ought doth for a gode man, lesith not his traueyle. 1530 PALSGR. 282/2 Traveyle, labour, trauayl. 1535 STEWART Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 191 This Conranus..Greit travell dalie did vpoun him tak. 1570 Ane Tragedie 32 in Satir. Poems Reform. x. 83 He to serue vs na traueil did spair. 1577 J. NORTHBROOKE Dicing (1843) 56 As Iob sayeth, a man is borne to trauel as the sparkes flee vpward. 1642 ROGERS Naaman To Rdr. §1 A great peece of my travell in these Lectures. a1770 JORTIN Serm. (1771) I. iv. 67 He wrought with labor and travel night and day. 1774 PENNANT Tour Scot. in 1772 225 After some travel [we] found the inside.
{dag}2. With a and pl. A piece of bodily or mental labour; a work, a task; in pl. labours.
c1350 Will. Palerne 4712 {Th}i tenful trauayles {th}ow hast for me suffred. 1390 GOWER Conf. III. 133 Thei hadde a gret travail on honde. 1494 FABYAN Chron. VI. cxlix. 135 His manyfolde trauayllys, susteynyd for the weale of the realme. 1568 GRAFTON Chron. II. 10 One that much desyred to eschew the trauayles of Martiall affayres. c1620 FLETCHER & MASSINGER Trag. Barnavelt V. i, Heaven direct And prosper theis your charitable traviles. 1690 PENN Rise & Progr. Quakers vi. (1834) 80 O it is a travail, a spiritual travail! 1724 A. COLLINS Gr. Chr. Relig. Pref. 21 He that seeketh her early shall have no great travels.
{dag}3. The outcome, product, or result of toil or labour; a (finished) ‘work’; esp. a literary work.
1563 SHUTE Archit. Fijb, I submyt my trauel, vnto allother..of like well wylling affection, wherwith I do offer this my poore atemptes and smal trauailes. 1597 MORLEY Introd. Mus. 183 The publication..of those neuer enough praised trauailes of master Waterhouse. 1624 WOTTON Archit. I. ad fin., I will conclude the first Part of my present Travel. The second remaineth concerning Ornaments.
4. The labour and pain of child-birth. Phr. in travail (Fr. en travail). Now chiefly fig.
1297 R. GLOUC. (Rolls) 237 Vor in travail of his beringe is moder was verst ded. c1300 St. Margarete 283 Eni womman..in trauail of childe. 1512 Helyas in Thoms Prose Rom. (1828) III. 27 In great paine and travaille of bodye she childed .vi. sonnes and a faire doughter. 1535 COVERDALE Ps. xlvii[i]. 6 Feare came there vpon them, & sorowe as vpon a woman in hir trauayle. 1599 B. JONSON Cynthia’s Rev. V. x, Doe you not see how his legs are in trauaile with a measure? 1611 BIBLE John xvi. 21 A woman, when shee is in trauaile, hath sorrow, because her houre is come. 1650 BULWER Anthropomet. 180 His wife dying after travel of a daughter. 1754-64 SMELLIE Midwif. II. 70 She felt all the Praeludia of an imminent travail. 1825 J. NEAL Bro. Jonathan III. 448 In the time of her travail. 1837 CARLYLE Fr. Rev. III. VI. vii, What a distracted City;..the Hour clearly in travail,{em}child not to be named till born! 1897 T. HARDY Well-Beloved II. xiii, Between the travail of the sea without, and the travail of the woman within.
{dag}5. transf. The eclipse of a heavenly body. Cf. LABOUR n. 7. Obs. rare.
1601 HOLLAND Pliny II. xii. I. 9 Seeing these things, and the paineful ordinarie travels (since that this tearme is now taken up) of the starres. [1627 HAKEWILL Apol. x. (1630) 82 Eclipses of the Sun and Moone, in which they are commonly thought to suffer, and to be as it were in travell during that time.] 1640 BP. REYNOLDS Passions i. 2 No eye gazeth on the Moone, but in her Travell.
{dag}6. transf. The straining movement of a vessel in rough seas. (Cf. LABOUR v. 17.) Obs. rare{em}1.
1687 A. LOVELL tr. Thevenot’s Trav. II. 10 If the Vessel made but the least Travel, they thought themselves lost.
II. 7. Journeying, a journey.
For this and the senses derived from it, see TRAVEL n., the spelling under which these senses are now differentiated from the preceding.
III. 8. attrib. and Comb., as travail-pain, -pang, pain or pang of child-birth (also fig.).
1814 SCOTT Ld. of Isles IV. xxvii, Thou heard’st a wretched female plain In agony of travail-pain. 1827 KEBLE Chr. Y., 4th Sund. Trinity, The travail pangs of earth must last Till her appointed hour. 1860 PUSEY Min. Proph. 86 The travail-pangs are violent, sudden, irresistible.
v.
[ME. travaill-en, -vaylle, -vaile, -veyle, -veile, etc. (usually with u, or Sc. w, for v), a. OF. travaillier, -vailler, -veillier, -veiller, mod.F. travailler = Prov. trebalhar (also Pg. trabalhar, Sp. trabajar, It. travagliare); held by Romanic scholars generally to represent a late pop.L. or Com. Rom. *trep{amac}li{amac}re, deriv. of trep{amac}lium (582 A.D. in Du Cange), an instrument or engine of torture (prob. f. L. tr{emac}s, tria three + p{amac}lus stake, being so named from its structure). The etymological sense was thus ‘to put to torture, torment’, passing at an early stage into those of ‘afflict, vex, trouble, harass, weary’. Through the refl. sense ‘to trouble, afflict, or weary oneself’, came the intrans. ‘to toil, work hard, labour’. Thence also (as is generally thought) the verbal ns. OF. travail m. and travaille f., ME. travail, -aile: see TRAVAIL n.1
The sense-development has not followed the same course in French and in English. Thus English has not developed the simple sense ‘work’, for which the OE. word has lived on. On the other hand, French has not evolved the sense ‘journey’ = F. voyager, which appeared early in Anglo-Fr., and has become the main sense in English, and is differentiated by the spelling TRAVEL, while the more original senses, so far as they continue in use, retain the earlier spelling travail.]
Comment by Nate — October 31, 2006 @ 5:10 pm
man, you’ve got too much free time!
Comment by geo — November 1, 2006 @ 11:14 am
oh yeah? well YOU’ve got too much … uhh … damn.
Comment by Nate — November 1, 2006 @ 1:32 pm