Field notes

Search

Search IconIcon to open search

Humanitas/humus

Updated Jan 13 2024

Humanitas in Latin comes first and properly from humando, meaning ‘burying, burial’, itself from humus, meaning ‘earth’ or ‘soil.’ In burial, the human body becomes a component of the earth, returned as dust to dust—inhumed, restored to humility, rendered humble.

Underland, Robert Macfarlane