This carving in Portland Whitbed stone by Philip Surey, celebrates the word ‘Pasture’, and was created as part of our exhibition ‘The Lost Words - Forget-me-not.’ For this exhibition artists have created a permanent record of the natural words removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. Size: 30 x 60cm

NOUN: PASTURE

mass noun Land covered with grass and other low plants suitable for grazing animals, especially cattle or sheep.

‘areas of rich meadow pasture’

ORIGIN: Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin pastura ‘grazing’, from past- ‘grazed’, from the verb pascere.

The omission from the Oxford Junior Dictionary of words from the natural world, replaced by words from the world of tech, may compound in older generations feelings of loss, a fear of irrelevance and of an ever-widening generation gap. Where once we roamed among woodland and pasture, birds and bees, our digitally-engaged young roam in Playstations and X-boxes, static and sterile, so removed from our understanding of what is real and of value we could be forgiven for thinking an impenetrable barrier has descended between our worlds. These words may have disappeared from a dictionary, but take a child to the source and the veil of disengagement is lifted. Words have life beyond the source, too. Who has not spoken of pastures new?