|
The oldest profession in the world (or The world's oldest profession) is a phrase that, unless another meaning be specified, refers to prostitution. However, it did not acquire that meaning universally until after the First World War. Formerly, various professions vied for the reputation of being the oldest. ==Earlier sense== The claim to be the oldest profession was made on behalf of farmers,〔”The farmer, therefore, can boast of being a member of the oldest profession” (Annual Report of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, Michigan, 1878).〕 cattle drovers,〔“He reminded his audience that theirs was the very oldest profession in the world” (Bury and Norwich Post, Suffolk, 19 June 1883, p.5.〕 horticulturalists,〔“… certainly we are representatives of the oldest profession of which we have any knowledge” (Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Ohio State Horticultural Society, 1890, p.35.〕 engineers,〔“… we belong to the oldest profession in the world” (The Stevens indicator, vol. 9, 1892, p.167).〕 landscape gardeners,〔“I need hardly speak of its antiquity, the oldest profession in the world” (Preston Chronicle, Lancashire, 9 November 1889, p.2.)〕 the military,〔Speech by Lord Wolseley, Morning Post, 21 December 1895.〕 doctors,〔''The Clinic: A Weekly Journal of Practical Medicine'', 1875, p.245.〕 nurses,〔''Nursing World'', vols 21-22, 1898, p.123.〕 teachers,〔''The Ohio Educational Monthly'', vol 57, 1908, p.294.〕 priests〔''Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers'', 1902.〕 and even lawyers.〔”A lawyer, then, is a member of the oldest profession extant; for as he lives upon the rottenness of human nature, the first human crime made room for a lawyer” (Alfred Butler, ''Elphinstone'', vol 1, 1841, p.189).〕 Perhaps the earliest recorded claim to be the world's oldest profession was made on behalf of tailors. The ''Song In Praise of the Merchant-Taylors'', attested from 1680, which was routinely performed at pageants at the Lord Mayor's Show, London, if the current mayor happened to belong to the tailors' guild,〔Percy Society, ''Early English Poetry, Ballads and Popular Literature of the Middle Ages'', vol. XIX (London, 1846), p.74.〕 began: The taylor's, though slighted, is much to be fam'd': For various invention, and antiquity, No trade with the tayler's comparèd may be: After pointing out that Adam and Eve made garments for themselves, and were therefore tailors, it continued: The oldest profession, and they are but raylers,〔Bitter deriders or scoffers.〕 Who scoff and deride men that be merchant-taylers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Oldest profession (phrase)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|