The Wasteland
The Improvements
Development
The word 'improve' itself, in its original meaning, did not mean just 'make better in a general sense but literally meant to do something for monetary profit, especially to cultivate land for profit (based on the old French for into, en, and profit, pros - or its oblique case, preu). By the seventeenth century, the word 'improver' was firmly fixed in the language to refer to someone who rendered land productive and profitable, especially by enclosing it or reclaiming waste.
The Origin of Capitalism - Ellen Meiksins Wood
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