Etymologically
Log in

aratio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 20:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

arātiō f (genitive arātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin arō (“to plough”) + -tiō.[2][1] De Vaan traces arō to Proto-Italic *araje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃-ie/o- (“to plough”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃-, comparing Ancient Greek ἀρόω (aróō, “to plough”) and Lithuanian árti (“to plough”).[3] Varro derived the word from ploughing, ab arandō, and Isidore claimed that men tilled the earth with bronze before iron was found.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Truculentus, of estates of arable land.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of ploughing, as in Varro's second ploughing and Columella's and Pliny's repeated ploughings, and more generally farming: Cicero notes that farming is called fruitful.[2][5] It is also an estate of arable land, especially one farmed out for a tithe.[2] In Medieval Latin it was ploughing done as a labour service.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of arable estates.[2][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of the second ploughing.[2][7]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of repeated ploughing.[5][7]
  • 936–973 – charters use it in the Middle Ages.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Ploughing; tillage, agriculture.[2][5][1]
  2. An estate of arable land, especially one farmed out for a tithe.[2][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Ploughing service owed as a labour due.[6]

Word family

  • aratiuncula

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de