Etymologically

planto

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 04:06. This address is a permanent link to this version.

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɫan.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈplan.to][1]

Forms

plantō (present infinitive plantāre, perfect active plantāvī, supine plantātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin planta (“shoot, cutting”) + -ō.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Columella has it once (10.119), in verse, of elecampane and giant fennel (inulae ferulaeque) being planted.[3]

Semantic evolution

Pliny the Elder uses it three times, as of pomegranates and hazels propagated from suckers, and Palladius of garden plants.[3][4][5] From the Old Latin Bible on it is common, with more than seventy instances in the Vulgate, which plants vineyards and groves[3][5] and uses it figuratively for forming or creating: qui plantavit aurem, non audiet? “he who planted the ear, shall he not hear?” (Psalm 93:9).[4][6] Augustine says the apostles planted churches,[6] and Medieval Latin used it for erecting an altar, depositing relics and founding a monastery.[7] The Romance verbs continue it: Italian piantare, French planter, Catalan plantar.[3]

Timeline

  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of garden plants.[3][8]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of propagating trees from suckers.[3][4][8]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of planting vineyards and, figuratively, of creating.[4][5][8]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of the apostles founding churches.[6][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To plant, set; to propagate from cuttings, transplant.[2][4][5][6]
  2. To plant (a vineyard, a grove); to plant (ground) with trees.[4][5]
  3. (figurative) To fix in place; to form, create.[4][9][6][10]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To found, establish (churches).[6]
  5. (Medieval Latin) To erect (an altar); to deposit (relics); to found (a monastery).[7]

Word family

  • complantō
  • dēplantō
  • explantō
  • plantātiō
  • plantator
  • supplantō
  • trānsplantō
  • implantō

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson