Dialectal form oftart, applied by British farmers to soils since before the era of chemical science and the discovery of molybdenum but retroactively defined by molybdenum concentration and pH level.
teart
- (agriculture and soil science, of pasture soils) Tending towardscouring (diarrheal illness) ingrazing livestock, being high inmolybdenum content and neutral to alkaline inpH.
1940, H.H. Green, “[Abstract of a forthcoming bulletin fromImperial Chemical Industries]”, inVeterinary Bulletin[1]:Abstract: The novelty of the subject matter and the fact that the information is conveyed in the form of a bulletin addressed to farmers, pending later publication of further experimental data in the scientific press, justifies a lengthy abstract for readers of theVeterinary Bulletin. The local word "teart" (i.e.tart) is applied to land and pastures [inSomerset,Warwickshire, andGloucestershire] upon which severe scouring occurs in grazingruminants, particularly cowsin milk and young stock. Sheep are less affected, and horses and pigs appear to be unaffected. […] Most affected farms contain bothteart and non-teart land and the degree of "teartness" varies with season and from field to field. […] The cause ofteartness is traced to the presence of molybdenum in the herbage in amounts varying from 20-100p.p.m. of the dry matter, and the degree ofteartness is roughly proportional to the molybdenum content, particularly to the amount in water-soluble form. Of the total molybdenum present, about 80% is soluble in the case of green grass, about 40% in the case of hay, and 10% in the case of moribund winter herbage. Hence growingpastures may beteart even when cuthay is not. […] [Variousameliorants are available but] Wherever possible, however, it is advisable to convertteart pastures toarable land. [H.H. Green,abstracter, in an abstract of a forthcoming bulletin fromImperial Chemical Industries.[1]]
1943, AH Lewis, “Theteart pastures of Somerset: II. Relation between soil and teartness”, inThe Journal of Agricultural Science, volume33, number 1,→DOI, pages52–57:Teart soils containmolybdenum in amounts varying from about 0·002 to 0·010% in thesurface horizon and areneutral oralkaline in reaction and oftencalcareous. The contents of molybdenum increase down the soil profile. Those [soils] which are acid in reaction in the surface horizons are notteart even if their molybdenum content is high. […] How a knowledge of the relation between soil andteartness can be turned to practical advantage is briefly discussed.
The comparative forms would betearter andteartest, being cognate withtarter andtartest, although being dialectal in an agrarian age they are not attested in written records.
teart
- (Early Middle English)Alternative form oftarte
FromProto-West Germanic*tart, fromProto-Germanic*tartaz(“rough, sharp, tearing”), fromProto-Germanic*teraną(“to tear”), fromProto-Indo-European*der-(“to flay, split, cleave”)
teart (comparativeteartra,superlativeteartest)
- tart
- sharp
Declension ofteart — Strong
Declension ofteart — Weak
