arare

Forms

arare (first-person singular present àro, first-person singular past historic arài, past participle aràto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old regional forms include Old Venetian arar (1253), Old Abruzzese ’rare (13th century) and Old Sicilian arari (late 14th century).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin arāre (“to plough”).^[3][4][5][1] The Latin verb lives on in every Romance language: Romanian ara, Friulian arâ, Romansh arar, Old French arer, Catalan arar, Spanish arar, Portuguese arar and Sardinian arare.^[2][6][4] In France it has been wholly replaced by the descendants of Latin labōrō (“to work”), as in the Iberian Peninsula and some Italian dialects.^[2][7]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *araō and to a Proto-Indo-European present formed from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”).^[8][1] Its cognates include Ancient Greek ἀρόω (aróō), Lithuanian árti, Middle Irish airim and the Gothic, Latvian and Old Church Slavonic verbs for “to plough”.^[8][4] The same root with an instrumental suffix gave Latin arātrum (“plough”), whence aratro; its long /aː/ was taken from the verb.^[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO puts the first record of the verb in the Veronese Riddle of the 8th or 9th century, where it means to work the land with a plough, turning the soil in furrows.^[9] In a datable vernacular text it is first found in Old Venetian in 1253, and DELI has the Tuscan sense from the 13th-century Proverbia.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb as a picture of toil and of wasted toil: arare la ripa and arare mal campo meant to labour for nothing.^[9] It also meant to lead a people, and in a sexual metaphor to deflower.^[9] The sense of an anchor that drags along the seabed without holding is in Boccaccio before 1375.^[3][9]

Annibal Caro, before 1566, used arare for ploughing the sea, sailing through it.^[3] Arare il mare came to mean to work in vain.^[10][11][12] Davanzati's arar diritto, to do one's duty, stayed in use.^[13][14] Modern motoring uses the verb for a car that slides outward with its front wheels in a bend, through understeer.^[5][10]

Timeline

• 8th or 9th century – The Veronese Riddle has the verb.^[9]
• 1010 – Medieval Latin arativus is recorded at Spoleto.^[15]
• 1252–1258 – Arato “plough” appears in the Storie de Troia e de Roma.^[3]
• 1253 – Old Venetian arar is recorded.^[2]
• 13th century – The verb appears in the Proverbia.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Aratro is recorded in Bono Giamboni.^[3]
• 1316 – Aratore “ploughman” is recorded.^[3]
• c. 1350 – Aratura appears in the Italian translation of Crescenzi.^[3]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses arare of a dragging anchor.^[3]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses it for sailing the sea.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To plough: to work the land with a plough, turning the soil and cutting furrows for sowing; also used without an object: in primavera arano i campi vicino al fiume.^{[5][10][11][1]}
2. (literary) To furrow, mark with lines; to plough through the sea, sail.^[5][10][16]
3. (nautical, of an anchor) To drag along the seabed without taking hold.^[5][10][16]
4. (motoring, of a car) To slide outward with the front wheels on a bend; to understeer.^[5][10]
5. (slang) To have sex with someone.^[1]

Word family

• aratro
• aratore
• aratura
• arativo
• arabile
• aratorio
• aratrice
• riarare

Related words

• arvale
• Latin arō
• Latin arātrum

Usage notes

Arare il mare is said of useless effort.^[10][11][5] Arare diritto is to do one's duty exactly, especially of someone under orders.^[14][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 720
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 64
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 267
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli