pastoral

Etymology

From Middle French, Old French pastoral, from Latin pāstōrālis, from pāstor (“shepherd”), + adjective suffix -ālis.

adj

1. Of or pertaining to shepherds or herders of other livestock.
   Like the Mesolithic age of 10,000-8000 B.C., the period 6000-4000 B.C. seems to be one of the fall of fortresses and the rise of pastoral nomadism. 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 160
2. Relating to rural life and scenes, in particular of poetry.
   We were living a pastoral life.
   […] these pastoral farms, / Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke / Sent up, in silence, from among the trees! 1798, Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Lines Above Tintern Abbey, lines 16–18
3. Relating to the care of souls, to the pastor of a church or to any local religious leader charged with the service of individual parishioners, i.e. a priest or rabbi.
   pastoral duties
   a pastoral letter

noun

1. A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyll; a bucolic.
2. (music) A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life.
3. (religion, Christianity) A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese.
4. (religion, Christianity) A letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish.