planter

Etymology

It is formed from English plant + -er,^[2][3][4][5] and appears first as Middle English plaunter, also plonter;^[6][3] the OED notes that it is attested earliest as a surname.^[2] The OED compares Middle Dutch planter, Middle Low German planter, Old High German pflanzāri, German Pflanzer and Medieval Latin plantarius,^[2] and the MED plantātor.^[6] Johnson derived it from French planteur.^[7] The verb is from Old English plantian, from Latin plantō (“to plant”), later reinforced by Old French planter.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who plants seeds or cultivates the soil, a farmer: as a surname in 1281,^[2] and as an ordinary word before 1382, in the Wycliffite Bible's plaunten shul plaunteres (Jeremiah 31:5).^[6]

Semantic evolution

Like the verb plant, which had meant to establish settlers in a new land since about 1300,^[3] planter was used from 1587, in Hakluyt's Principal Navigations, for the founder of a colony or an early settler; in Ireland it meant the English and Scottish settlers planted on forfeited lands in the 17th century, and later also a person settled in the holding of an evicted tenant (1858).^[2][5] In the Caribbean and the American South it came to mean the owner or manager of a plantation, recorded from 1619 in the journals of Virginia's House of Burgesses,^[2] and in Etymonline from the 1640s.^[3] The figurative sense, the founder of a church, doctrine or institution, dates from 1632.^[2][3] Local senses followed: an established Newfoundland fisherman who owns his boats and gear (1663),^[2] a tree trunk stuck upright in a river (1803, in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys),^[2] and in slang one who hides stolen goods (1859, in Matsell's Vocabulum), in Australia a cattle thief who hides his stock (1890, in Rolf Boldrewood).^[8][2] The machine for planting seeds is recorded by 1850, and the pot or box for growing plants by 1959.^[3] The rum cocktail called a planter is recorded from 1878,^[2] and planter's punch from 1890.^[3]

Timeline

• 1281 – as a surname.^[2]
• before 1382 – one who plants seed, a farmer.^[6][2]
• 1587 – the founder of a colony, an early settler.^[2]
• 1619 – the owner or manager of a plantation.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1640s.^[3]
• 1632 – the founder of a church or institution.^[2][3]
• 1663 – in Newfoundland, a fisherman who owns his premises and boats.^[2]
• 1803 – in the United States, a snag formed by a tree trunk fixed upright in a river.^[2]
• 1850 – a machine for planting seeds.^[3]
• 1859 – in slang, one who hides stolen goods.^[2][8]
• 1878 – a rum cocktail.^[2]
• 1959 – a container for growing plants.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who plants or cultivates crops; a farmer.^{[5][9][10][2]}
2. The owner or manager of a plantation: a sugar planter.^{[5][9][10][2]}
3. A machine or tool for planting seeds.^{[5][9][10][3]}
4. A decorative container in which a plant or small tree is grown.^[9][10][3]
5. (historical) An early settler or colonist; in Ireland, an English or Scottish settler given forfeited land in the 17th century.^[2][5][9]
6. The founder of a church, doctrine or institution.^[5][2]
7. In Newfoundland, an established fisherman who owns his premises, boats and gear and employs a crew on shares.^[2]
8. (slang) A person who hides stolen goods; in Australia, one who steals cattle and hides them.^[8][2]

Related words

• plant
• plantation

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d 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)
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster