ABSTRACT
Social scientists are often frustrated by inconvenient facts that nip instructive stories in the bud. This chapter offers a case in point. It is at least arguable that the term ‘cult’ should be the root word for the term ‘culture’ or ‘cult-ure’, but the facts are otherwise. After briefly reviewing the etymological background of both words, I shall show how each could be enhanced with a bit of etymological licence. Admittedly, my task is somewhat complicated by the myriad of differences between my own American language and that of our Scottish honouree, for whom I have frequently offered to serve as a simultaneous translator before US audiences. In seeking an authoritative source, I might have used the author’ itative American dictionary that was actually begun in my hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts, and is now known as Webster’s Third International. But out of the kind of cross-cultural deference for which we Americans are famous, I have instead deferred to the Oxford English Dictionary and decided to make do with its new twenty-volume second edition. In the sections to follow, I shall deal with both ‘cult’ and ‘culture’ separately before bringing them together in the chapter’s conclusion.
