arable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English arable, also arrable and erable,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman arable, also arrable, and Middle French arable,^[3][4] and directly borrowed from Latin arābilis (“capable of being ploughed”),^[3][5][6] from arō (“to plough”).^[3][7][4][8] The Anglo-Norman adjective is recorded from 1155.^[9][3] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *erie- (“to plough”), as Etymonline writes it,^[7] *ar(ə)- in Barnhart and *arā- in Klein.^[4][8] The same root gave Old English erian (“to plough”), Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (arjan, “to plough”), Old High German erran, Old Norse erja, Lithuanian árti, Welsh arddu and Middle Irish airim (“I plough”),^[7][4][8] and such nouns as arþr (“a plough”) and Ancient Greek ἄροτρον (árotron, “a plough”), beside ἄρουρα (ároura, “arable land”).^[8][7] Compare Spanish arable and Italian arabile.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of land, fit for ploughing or used for crops: the first record is about 1400, in Femina,^[3] with Barnhart and the Middle English Dictionary next finding it about 1410.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its central meaning, land under the plough as opposed to pasture or woodland.^[7][3] Middle English also had the native erable, from erian, and Barnhart suggests that the Latinate spelling was brought in to correct it,^[4] though the revised OED dates earable only to before 1450, after arable, and forms it from ear and -able.^[3] The native form died out in the 1700s, Barnhart says, and by the late 18th century, according to Etymonline.^[4][7] The noun, arable land, appears about 1475,^[3] a use the OED finds apparently unparalleled in French.^[3] Milton had "part arable, and tilth" in Paradise Lost, a line Johnson quoted in 1755.^[10] From 1689 the adjective also extended from the land to what is done or grown on it, and in Britain it now describes farming and crops, as in arable farmer.^[3][11][6]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – of land, fit for ploughing or used for crops.^[3]
• c. 1475 – noun, arable land.^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged first dates the noun to 1576.^[11]
• 1689 – concerned with growing crops; suited to ploughed land.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of land, fit for or used for ploughing and growing crops: The valley floor is mostly arable.^[6][11][3]
2. Relating to or engaged in growing crops on such land, chiefly in Britain: arable farming.^[6][11][3]
3. Of crops, needing cultivation, especially sown and grown each year, chiefly in Britain.^[11][3]

Noun

1. Land that is or can be tilled; in Britain also tillage or arable farming.^[11][6][3]

Word family

• arability

Related words

• ear

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster