ἄροτρον

Forms

ᾰ̓́ροτρον (árotron) n (genitive ᾰ̓ρότρου); second declension^[1] Cretan ἄρατρον (áratron).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *árotron,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃trom (“plough”), an instrument noun in *-trom from the root *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”), which also gave ἀρόω (aróō, “to plough”).^[4][1][3] Frisk wonders whether the Cretan form with α is the older one, the ο of ἄροτρον coming from the verb;^[2] Beekes explains the α of the Doric forms instead by the influence of an analogical verb ἀράω (aráō).^[4] If Hittite ḫarra- (“to grind, crush”) is cognate, ploughing was first called “breaking the soil”.^[4]

The same instrument noun is the word for the plough in Old Armenian արաւր (arawr), Latin arātrum (its ā taken from the verb), Middle Irish arathar and Old Norse arðr.^[4][2][1] Lithuanian árklas is built with an l-suffix instead.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning a plough.^[5][6] Homer has it four times, three of them in the line-ending “the jointed plough”.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

The plough runs through Greek literature from Hesiod on:^[6][8] Theognis speaks of the curved plough, Pindar of an adamantine one, and Herodotus of breaking furrows with it;^[6][9][3] in Sophocles' Antigone ploughs turn back and forth.^[6][3] Nonnus used the plural figuratively for the male organs of generation, and in boxing a blow “from the plough” was a blow with the right hand.^[3][1]

The Septuagint uses it for the plough, and in Micah the plural for ploughshares.^[10][11] The Gospel of Luke has the phrase “to put one's hand to the plough”, which BDAG compares with Hesiod's advice to take hold of the plough handle when ploughing begins.^[12]

Hellenistic Greek also had a form ἄλετρον (áletron), by dissimilation of the two liquids; its diminutive, medieval αλέτρι (alétri), is the ordinary Modern Greek word for the plough, while Modern Greek άροτρο (árotro) is a learned revival.^[13][14]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the plough.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the Works and Days.^[6][8][3]
• 6th century BC – Theognis speaks of the curved plough.^[6][3]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar mentions an adamantine plough.^[9][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Sophocles use it.^[6][3]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Luke speaks of putting one's hand to the plough.^[12]
• 2nd century AD – Pausanias uses the phrase “from the plough” of a boxer's right-hand blow.^[3]
• 4th–5th century AD – Nonnus uses the plural for the organs of generation.^[3]
• Modern Greek – αλέτρι (alétri) is the everyday word for the plough, and άροτρο (árotro) the learned one.^[13][14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A plough.^[6][15][5]
2. (plural) Ploughshares.^[10]
3. (figurative, in the plural) The male organs of generation.^[3][1]
4. (boxing, in the phrase “from the plough”) A blow with the right hand.^[3]

Word family

• ἀροτριάω (arotriáō)
• ἀροτρεύω (arotreúō)
• ἀροτρεύς (arotreús)

Related words

• ἀρόω (aróō)
• ἄρουρα (ároura)
• ἀροτήρ (arotḗr)
• Latin arātrum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter
10. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
11. ^ Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
12. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
15. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press