aratro

Forms

aratro m (plural aratri)^[1] The old and popular Tuscan form is arato, and Old Italian also had aratolo, aratu and arado.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin arātrum (“plough”), formed from arō (“to plough”) with the suffix of instrument nouns -trum.^[5][6][7] The older and popular form arato goes back to *arātum, a dissimilated form which the LEI places already in Vulgar Latin, since it is found across Italy and in Spanish arado and Portuguese arado.^[8][9] Other Romance outcomes are Old French arere, Old Occitan araire and Catalan aladre.^[5][10] The Latin word survives in every Romance language except Romanian.^[9] In northern Italy the word competes with other types of plough names.^[11]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃trom (“plough”), from the root of *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”).^[1][12] Its cognates include Ancient Greek ἄροτρον (árotron), Old Armenian արօր (arawr), Welsh aradr and Old Norse arðr.^[12][1][13] The long ⟨ā⟩ is taken from the verb, since the PIE form would have given a short vowel.^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form arato in the Storie de Troia e de Roma, a Roman text of 1252–1258, for the farm implement that breaks up the soil.^[2][14] The form aratro follows in Bono Giamboni, before 1292.^[14]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian translations of the classics used both forms: Simintendi's Ovid has a heifer that has never borne the yoke e no avrà menato l'arato (“and will not have drawn the plough”), and Ugurgieri's Virgil has the red flower succiso dall'aratro (“cut down by the plough”).^[15] Old Italian also had the phrase mettere l'aratro, “to devastate”.^[2] The diminutive form aratolo appears in the Italian Crescenzi and in the Italian Palladio.^[4][16]

In the dialects the word took on secondary senses, and in some of them it became feminine when the article was divided wrongly (l'aratə heard as la ratə).^[9] The modern word covers the mechanical plough as well as the old wooden one, with many technical types such as the disc plough (aratro a dischi).^[17][18] In literary use it can stand for farm work itself.^[3]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The form arato appears in the Storie de Troia e de Roma.^[2][14]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the form aratro.^[14]
• c. 1325 – Arato appears in the Italian version of Aesop.^[9]
• Before 1337 – Old Sicilian aratu is recorded.^[9]
• 1509 – Northern Italian arado is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (agriculture) plough: a farm implement drawn by animals or a tractor that turns over the soil before sowing, made up of a beam, a coulter, a ploughshare and a mouldboard: Il contadino attaccò i buoi all'aratro.^[17][19][6]
2. (figurative, literary) Work in the fields, agriculture.^[3]

Related words

• arare
• aratore
• aratura
• Latin aratrum
• Ancient Greek ἄροτρον (árotron)

Usage notes

Kinds of plough are named with set phrases: aratro a dischi, aratro voltorecchio, aratro assolcatore, aratro affossatore.^[17][20][18] Isidore of Seville explained aratrum as named from ploughing the earth, “as if araterrium”.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
9. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 730
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 267
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
16. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
17. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
18. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
19. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
20. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli