aratrum Latin · revision 30992

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=ine-pro *h₂erh₃-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [aˈraː.trũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [aˈraː.trum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''arātrum''' ''n'' (genitive arātrī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|arō|t=to plough]] with the instrument suffix [[m|la|-trum]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces the verb to [[itc-pro|*araje/o-]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂erh₃-|t=to plough]]; an inherited noun [[ine-pro|*h₂erh₃-tro-|t=plough]] lies behind [[grc|ἄροτρον|tr=árotron|t=plough]], [[mga|arathar|t=plough]] and [[non|arðr|t=plough]], but it would have given Latin a short vowel in the second syllable, so the long ⟨ā⟩ of ⟨arātrum⟩ was taken from the verb.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Varro explains the name by the plough's breaking up the earth, and Isidore of Seville derives it from ploughing the ground.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan gives Cato as its first author.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the plough;^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder names Buzyges as its inventor, Virgil Triptolemus, and Virgil describes its parts.^(Lewis & Short 1879) To drive a plough over a city's walls was to raze it (Horace), and a plough marked the bounds of a new town, as Aeneas marks out his city with one.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “plow”.^(Stelten 1995) In Medieval Latin it is also a measure of arable land, a carucate.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the plough.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of Aeneas marking out a city with a plough.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of ploughing over a city's walls.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|plough]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|carucate]], a measure of arable land.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[arō]]

+ * [[arātor]]

+ * [[arātiō]]

+ * [[arvum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The phrase ''imprimere arātrum mūrīs'', to drive the plough into a city's walls, means to destroy a town utterly;^(Lewis & Short 1879) Virgil's ''urbem dēsignat arātrō'' refers to marking a new city's boundary with a plough.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}