plantatio

Forms

plantātiō f (genitive plantātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin plantō (“to plant”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Pliny the Elder,^[4] for the propagation of plants from cuttings or by transplanting.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Augustine uses it for the planting of a vineyard and figuratively, of a “planting of bitterness”.^[5][6] In the Vulgate it means the thing planted, a plant set out or, in the plural, plantings,^[3][5] and Christian writers used it of an offshoot and so of descendants.^[6]

Medieval Latin kept the senses of planting and plant, also in figures of speech,^[7] and Du Cange records it for the building of a church in a charter from Brandenburg.^[8] English plantation was borrowed from it in the mid-15th century, first for the action of planting.^[9]

Timeline

• AD 23/24–79 – Pliny the Elder uses it for propagating plants.^[2][3][4]
• AD 354–430 – Augustine uses it for planting a vineyard.^[5][6][4]
• AD 390–406 – The Vulgate uses it for a plant or plantings.^[3][5][4]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as plantation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Propagation from cuttings; planting, transplanting.^[2][3]
2. (Late Latin) A plant set out;^[3][5][6] (plural) plantings.^[3][5][6]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin, figurative) An offshoot; descendants.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) The building or founding (of a church).^[8]

Related words

• English plantation

Usage notes

A second Du Cange article records it in a charter about vineyards planted on condition that the costs are shared.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com