aro

Forms

arō (present infinitive arāre, perfect active arāvī, supine arātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *araje/o- (“to plough”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃-ye/o- (“to plough”).^[2][1] Cognate with Welsh arddu (“to plough”), Ancient Greek ἀρόω (aróō, “to plough”), Lithuanian árti (“to plough”), Old Church Slavonic орати (orati, “to plough”) and Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (arjan, “to plough”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.^[2] Cato warns the farmer not to plough rotten ground: terram cariōsam cavē nē arēs.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is to plough, and to farm land, as Cicero's tenants of public land.^[3] Lītus arāre, “to plough the shore”, is to labour in vain (Ovid), and Titinius speaks of ploughing a wax field with a bone, that is, writing.^[3] It is to grow by ploughing, as all that the Apulian farmer harvests in Horace.^[3] By transfer it is to furrow: Virgil's Allecto ploughs her brow with wrinkles, Martial's book ploughs paper, and Virgil's Aeneas has a vast sea to plough.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “plough”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[2][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of ploughing ground.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of farming public land.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of wrinkles and of the sea.^[3][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid: lītora arās, ploughing the shore.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To plough, till; to farm.^[3][1][4]
2. To grow (by ploughing).^[3][1]
3. To furrow, wrinkle;^[3][1] (poetic) to plough (the sea); to write on.^[3][1]
4. lītus arāre, to labour in vain.^[3]

Word family

• arābilis
• arātiō
• arātor
• arātrīx
• arātrum
• arvus
• circumarō
• exarō
• inarātus
• inarō

Related words

• arātiuncula
• arātōrius
• arātrō
• arva
• arvālis
• arvum
• armentum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de