FeralSheryl, asgary says there was an old thread on this here:
[
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=12]Why call it bush craft?[/url]
In that thread Hoodoo pointed out that the earliest reference to the word 'bushcraft' was probably in a book written by Richard Graves called "Bushcraft" in 1972. bigjackbrass said in fact pamphlets that formed this book book appeared sometime soon after the Second World War.
From what I have seen the term 'bush' and related terms appear to originate from colonial British in Africa and Australia for example.
I think when you mention the fact that Preben as a Swede did not know a direct translation of the word ( although the origin of the word 'bush' is related to the Swedish 'buske') as they tend to refer to it as 'wilderness', you highlight the problem Gary; in that where most people in the UK practice the craft is not in wilderness since there is little (natural) wilderness left in Britain especially where most people live.
For me the term 'Bushcraft' is very much now related to Ray Mears now and is a distinctly British term and activity. In other words it is not a historical knowledge still widely practised (although this is perhaps changing even now) as in Scandinavia but more a hobby or leisure pursuit. That does not mean it is not meaningful, in fact it is about a whole load of stuff and re-engagement with our surroundings.
As to the term 'bush', personally I think it is quite appropriate given it's etymological roots:
[Middle English, partly from Old English busc, partly from Old French bois, wood (of Germanic origin), and partly of Scandinavian origin (akin to Danish busk). N., sense 3, possibly from Dutch bosch.]
source: he American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000
'craft' is another awkward part of the puzzle as it is often misunderstood as being more akin to handiwork or purely a trade skill, whereas in English it tends to have wider scope encompassing other aspects of both practical skill and also more spiritual/ philosophical qualities as in 'witchcraft'. The use of the word 'lore' is an interesting one too which tends to relate more to historical practice, of which bushcraft re-discovers or develops from, such ancient skills.
In the end a Gary says no one word can really define what it is to encompass such a rich and often diverse interest. For me words have a lot of meaning as they are part of the actual culture and heritage, but again it is the extraordinary richness and diversity of words, even for the same thing (such as snow in Sami), that make them so wonderful, because so much of the skill that we refer to as craft or lore etc, were passed down through initiation without a written record but as the spoken (or sung) and demonstrated knowledge.