- fertile (adj.)
- mid-15c., "bearing or producing abundantly," from Middle French fertil (15c.) and directly from Latin fertilis "bearing in abundance, fruitful, productive," from ferre "to bear" (see infer). Fertile Crescent (1914) was coined by U.S. archaeologist James H. Breasted (1865-1935) of University of Chicago in "Outlines of European History," Part I.
