aratore

Forms

aratore m (plural aratori, feminine aratrice)^[1] Old Italian has arator and Old Sicilian araturi.^[2] Boiardo writes arratore.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin arātor (“ploughman”),^[1][4][5] a noun formed from arō (“to plough”) (the source of arare) with the agent suffix -tor.^[6][1][7] The LEI counts it among the inherited words, since it survives in most Romance languages: Romanian arător, Friulian aradôr, Romansh arader, Old French areur, Catalan arador, Spanish arador and Portuguese arador.^[3][8] Zingarelli calls the Italian word learned, and Körting calls the Romance forms half-learned.^[9][10]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *araō and to the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”).^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bartolomeo da San Concordio, written between 1302 and 1308 in a Pisan text with Florentine features, in the sense “one who ploughs”.^[2] DELI dates it to 1316, in Andrea Lancia.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Besides the ploughman, Old Italian used bue aratore for a draught ox, and Salvini wrote of aratori buoi.^[2][13] The word was common in poetry: Ariosto compares a stunned knight to a stupido aratore after a lightning strike, and Carducci's arator looks out over untilled land.^[5] A Tuscan proverb says Non è sì esperto aratore che talora non faccia il solco torto: experience does not keep anyone from error.^[13] The 20th century added motoaratore, the driver of a motor plough.^[3]

Timeline

• 1302–1308 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses aratore.^[2]
• 1316 – Andrea Lancia uses it.^[12]
• First half of the 14th century – It appears in the vernacular translation of Guido delle Colonne.^[3][14]
• Before 1494 – Boiardo writes arratore.^[3]
• 1517 – Old Sicilian araturi is recorded in Scobar's dictionary.^[3]
• 1981 – Motoaratore is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ploughman, a farm worker who ploughs the fields.^[7][15][1]

Adjective

1. That ploughs; of an ox, used to draw the plough: bue aratore.^[14][7][16]

Word family

• motoaratore

Related words

• arare
• aratro
• aratura
• Latin arator

Usage notes

The feminine is aratrice.^[7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 728
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli