arador

Forms

arador m (plural aradores, feminine aradora, feminine plural aradoras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin arātor (“ploughman”).^[2][1][3][4] In Spanish terms it is the verb arar with the agent suffix -dor.^[1] The Latin noun was formed on arō (“to plough”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[5][1]

The same Latin word is Romanian arător, Italian aratore, Sardinian aradore, Old French areour, Catalan arador and Portuguese arador.^[4] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”), the root of Ancient Greek ἀρόω (aróō) and Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (arjan), both meaning “to plough”.^[6][1]

The name of the itch mite, recorded from Nebrija on, compares the mite's tunnels under the skin to the furrows of a plough.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Fuero Real of Alfonso X (c. 1255) uses arador for the plough itself: ni otras bestias de arar, ni arador, ni trillo “nor other ploughing beasts, nor plough, nor threshing board”.^[9][10] The Picatrix (1256) has the sense “one who ploughs”: whoever is born under that sign will be labrador de tierra arador & labrador “a tiller of the soil, a ploughman and farmer”.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

The sense “plough” lasted from the 13th to the 15th century, and the Academy marked it as antiquated from 1770.^[9][10] Nebrija recorded both the ploughman and the itch mite.^[13][7] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1726) described the mite living in the palms of the hands, and quoted Calisto y Melibea on the folly of trying sacar aradores con pala de azadón “to dig out itch mites with a hoe blade”; it also recorded the proverb arador de palma no le saca toda barba.^[8] In 1899 the Academy described it as a parasitic arachnid, and the DLE now names it arador de la sarna, beside arador del queso, the cheese mite.^[14][2]

In Asturias the word has named itchy spots on children's skin, and in rural Puerto Rico a tiny reddish eight-legged mite.^[15][16] An early Mexican record is Alonso de Molina's arador del cuerpo (1571).^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1255 – the Fuero Real uses arador for “plough”.^[9]
• 1256 – the Picatrix has the sense “ploughman”.^[11][12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records the ploughman and the itch mite.^[13][7][18]
• 1571 – Alonso de Molina's Mexican vocabulary has arador del cuerpo.^[17]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades explains the mite's name by its furrows and records two proverbs.^[8]
• 1770 – the Academy marks the sense “plough” as antiquated.^[10]
• 1899 – the Academy describes the mite as a parasitic arachnid.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That ploughs; also as a noun, a ploughman: Los aradores volvían al pueblo con la yunta al caer la tarde.^[2][1][19]

Noun

1. (zoology) The itch mite (arador de la sarna), which burrows under the skin and causes scabies.^[2][19]
2. arador del queso: the cheese mite, which lives in old cheese.^[2][19]
3. (Puerto Rico, rural) A tiny reddish eight-legged mite.^[16]

Related words

• arar
• arado
• aradura
• Latin arātor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. arador
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. arador
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 600
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 313
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 368
9. ^ a b c Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 363
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 302
11. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. arador
12. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 295
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 83
15. ^ Rato y Hevia, Apolinar de (1891), Vocabulario de las palabras y frases bables que se hablaron antiguamente y de las que hoy se hablan en el Principado de Asturias, Madrid: Manuel G. Hernández, p. 13
16. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. arador
17. ^ a b Grupo IATEXT, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, AMERLEX: corpus of americanisms in early texts on the Americas (online database), p. s.v. arador
18. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. arar
19. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. arador