{"id":9633,"date":"2025-03-21T19:07:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T19:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/limbaromana.org\/en\/?p=9633"},"modified":"2025-03-21T19:07:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T19:07:31","slug":"the-origin-of-romanian-noun-plug-plow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/limbaromana.org\/en\/the-origin-of-romanian-noun-plug-plow\/","title":{"rendered":"THE ORIGIN OF ROMANIAN NOUN PLUG \u2018PLOW\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is unanimously believed that Romanian plug<\/strong> is a loan from OCS plug\u044a<\/em> \u2018plough\u2019 (Miklosich, Slaw. Elem., 36; Cihac, 2, 267; Pascu, 2, 205; Cioranescu, 6535; DAR); cf. Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Polish, Russian plug<\/em>, Czech pluh<\/em>, Albanian plug<\/em>, Lithuanian plugas<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Vasmer (1, 974) argues the Slavs took the plow from Germans. The first attestation of the term among Slavs can be dated in 981, AD, in Nestor\u2019s Chronicle (cf. Vasmer). Vasmer (2, 376) believes in a Celtic origin of this term, referring to Latin plaumoratum<\/em> (cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist.., 18, 172) and Germanic tribes borrowed it from the Celts, after the transition of PIE *p<\/strong> to f<\/em> in the Germanic languages (Grimm\u2019s law). No reliable etymological explanation has been found for the term plaumoratum<\/em>. Among Germanic peoples, Goths were nomads when they came to Dacia and then settled in various places in Dacia. They lived alongside the native population for about a century, until the arrival of the Huns in 375 A.D., who drove them across the Danube. Moreover, in Gothic the plow was called h\u014dha<\/em>, a derivative of PIE *k<\/strong>\u2019ak<\/strong>-, *k<\/strong>\u2019ank<\/strong>– \u2018twig, branch\u2019 (cf. Lehmann, H88). Therefore, the Slavs did not borrow it from Goths, for the simple reason that this term is not attested in Gothic language. From the same root, it is derived Old Irish cecht<\/em>, Irish ceachta<\/em> \u2018plough\u2019, cognates of OCS socha<\/em> \u2018stick, wooden plough\u2019. Other forms for plow (and ploughing) in Indo-European languages \u200b\u200bare derived from PIE *ar<\/strong>-, *ar\u0259<\/strong>– \u2018to plow\u2019 (W-P, 55); cf. Greek \u03b1\u03c1\u03cc\u03c9<\/em> \u2018to plow (I, sg.)\u2019, Middle Irish airim<\/em> \u2018to plow, to work\u2019 (I, sg.), Welsh arddu<\/em> \u2018to plow\u2019, Lithuanian ariu<\/em> id., arimas<\/em> \u2018plowing, plowed place\u2019, Gothic arjan<\/em> \u2018to plow\u2019, OHG erran<\/em> id., OCS orjo<\/em>, orat\u044c<\/em> id., Albanian ar\u00eb<\/em> \u2018field, arable place\u2019, arar<\/em> \u2018ploughman\u2019, Burushaski h\u01ddrki<\/em> \u2018to plough, cultivate, sow\u2019, h\u01ddr\u0161<\/em> \u2018plough\u2019, har<\/em> \u2018plough\u2019.<\/p>\n

In other words, the Indo-European forms derived from these two roots are older and go back to Neolithic times, while the form plug<\/strong> is more recent and defines the plow with an iron (plough) share which is a much later invention, appearing sometime in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. Caesar shows that in the first century B.C., Germanic tribes, those who lived east of the Rhine, did not do much farming: \u2018The Germans, Caesar says<\/em>, are not attracted to agriculture and most of their food consists of milk<\/em>, cheese and meat. No one has a particular piece of land that is his<\/em>; their judges and leaders appoint every year as much as they need and force them to pass to another place every year. They bring different arguments for this practice<\/em>: the fear that they could be tempted<\/em>, through continuous association with the respective land<\/em>, to replace their warrior zeal with agriculture…<\/em>\u2019 (De bello<\/em>…, 6, 22). \u00a0This does not mean Germans did not use a plough, but less than other peoples in Europe at that time. Barnhart (807) states that in German the term is of unknown origin, and Kluge (697) quotes Pliny, who writes that in Galic Rhaetia a new type of plow with two wheels called plaumoratum<\/em> appeared, a term invoked, as we have seen, by Vasmer as well. W-H (2, 319) believes that plaumoratum<\/em> may be a derivative from \u2018ploum Raeti\u2019, which would suggest it is a word of Raetic or Celtic origin. The Celtic hypothesis is not sustainable, since, of the four Celtic languages \u200b\u200bthat still exist today, no cognate of the plow form appears in any of them; Modern Irish c\u00e9achta<\/em> \u2018plough\u2019, Scottish crann<\/em> id., Welsh aradr<\/em> id., Breton arar<\/em> id., forms which, as we have shown, come from other Proto-Indo-European older roots.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Alinei (2, 568) also believes that plow is of Celtic origin and derives it from PIE *pleu<\/strong>– \u2018to flow, swim, float\u2019, but the hypothesis cannot be correct. Archaeological evidence attests that the plow with an iron share was used in Dacia since the 3rd century BC. Therefore, long before it appeared in Rhaetia when it was first mentioned by Pliny. In fact, the term cannot be of Celtic origin since initial PIE *p<\/strong> was lost in Proto-Celtic, unless this p<\/em> is derived from PIE *kw<\/sup><\/strong> in Continental Celtic, but it is not the case. Before the term plough appeared in Germanic and Slavic languages, the terms for \u2018plough\u2019 were derived from a few Proto-Indo-European roots: Old English sulh<\/em> (cognates with Latin sulcus <\/em>\u2018furrow\u2019), OHG medela<\/em>, geiza<\/em>, houhili<\/em>(n<\/em>) (the last a cognate of Gothic h\u014dha<\/em> \u2018plough\u2019), Old Norse ar\u00f0r <\/em>(Swedish \u00e5rder<\/em>). Old Norse pl\u00f3gr<\/em> and the other related forms appeared relatively late in Germanic languages (it is not attested in Gothic) or it is considered to be a loan from a north Italic language.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, G. Kroonen (2013, 398) argues that the term for \u2018plough\u2019 is derived from Proto-Germanic *ploga<\/em>, from a verb *plehan<\/em>\/*plekan <\/em>\u2018to take responsibility\u2019 (cf. NHG pflegen<\/em> \u2018to look after, nurse\u2019), but such a hypothesis is flimsy at the best. On the other hand, Vladimir Orel (292) considers a Proto-Germanic *pl\u014d\u0292uz<\/em>\/*pl\u014d\u0292az<\/em> as the source of terms for \u2018plough\u2019, of uncertain origin. He goes further saying \u2018If [it] continues *bloko<\/em> could be compared, rather shakingly, to Armenian pelem<\/em> \u2018to dig\u2019, Welsh bwlch<\/em> \u2018crack\u2019 < Celt. *bolko<\/em>\u2019. As one may see Orel is not convincing either. In other words, none of these two hypotheses can solve the problem of the origin of terms for \u2018plow\u2019. In fact, it is a derivative of PIE *peh<\/strong>2<\/sub>l<\/strong>– \u2018to turn, to wind\u2019, with the nominal form *polk<\/strong>\u2019.<\/p>\n

IE cognates: Gaulish olca<\/em> \u2018plowed-land\u2019 (< Proto-Celtic *polca), Albanian p\u00ebrlin\u00eb<\/em> \u2018uncultivated land, eroded land\u2019, Old English fealg<\/em>, OHG felga<\/em> \u2018harrow\u2019, East Frisian falge<\/em> \u2018fallow\u2019, falgen<\/em> \u2018to break up ground\u2019 id., MHG falgen<\/em> \u2018to plow\u2019, OHG, Old Norse felga<\/em> \u2018harrow\u2019, Old English fielg<\/em> NHG Felge<\/em> \u2018plowed-up fallow land\u2019, English fallow<\/em>, Russian polos\u00e1<\/em> \u2018stripe, furrow\u2019.<\/p>\n

It has close cognates in other IE languages, especially in Germanic languages, in Gaulish and in Russian, but the term cannot be derived from any Germanic or Celtic languages, for obvious reasons I have mentioned already. Furthermore, PIE *k<\/strong>\u2019 > k<\/em>: the fact shows once again Thraco-Dacian is a centum<\/em> language. From the Thraco-Dacians, the object as well as the term were borrowed by the Germanic tribes and Continental Celts, and, much later, by the Slavs. Therefore, it is quite obvious that the term appeared in the Balkan region and spread in central and western Europe from the Thraco-Dacians, who in ancient times bordered the Greeks to the southeast, and the Celts and the Germans to the northwest. In Romanian it is a cognate of p\u00e2rloag\u0103 <\/strong>\u2018fallow\u2019 and polog<\/strong> \u2018swath, windrow\u2019 (see these entries). Tracho-Dacian origin.<\/p>\n

Derivatives: a plug\u0103ri<\/em>, plug\u0103rit<\/em>, plug\u0103rie<\/em>, plug\u0103rime<\/em>, plugar<\/em>, plug\u0103ra\u015f<\/em>, plug\u0103rel<\/em>, plug\u0103resc<\/em>, plugule\u0163<\/em>, plugu\u015for<\/em>, plug\u0103ri\u021b\u0103<\/em>, plugni\u021b\u0103<\/em>, plugo\u0219ni\u021b\u0103<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Selected bibliography<\/p>\n

Alinei, M., Origini delle lingue de l\u2019Europa<\/em>, Societ\u00e0 editrice il Mulino, Bologna, 1996-2000.<\/p>\n

Barnhart, R., A Dictionary of Etymology<\/em>, H.W. Wilson, New York, 1988.<\/p>\n

Caesar, J., De bello gallico<\/em>, English, Penguin Books, New York, Harmondsworth, England, 1982.<\/p>\n

Cihac, A., Dictionnaire d\u2019<\/em>\u00e9tymologie daco<\/em>–roumaine<\/em>, Frankfurt (2 vol.), 1870-1879.<\/p>\n

Cioranescu, A., Diccionario etimologico rumano<\/em>, Madrid, 1958.<\/p>\n

DAR: Dic\u0163ionarul Limbii Rom\u00e2ne<\/em> (1913-2000), Editura Academiei Rom\u00e2ne, Bucure\u0219ti, 2010<\/p>\n

Kroonen, G., Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic<\/em>, Brill, Leiden, Boston, 2013<\/p>\n

Lehmann, W. P., A Gothic Etymological Dictionary<\/em>, E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1986.<\/p>\n

Miklosich, F., Die Slawischen Elemente in Rum\u00e4nischen<\/em>, \u00een \u201eDenkschriften\u201d, XII, Akademie der Wissenschaften, Viena, 1862<\/p>\n

Orel, V., A<\/em> Handbook of Germanic Etymology<\/em>, Brill, Leiden, Boston, 2003.<\/p>\n

Pascu, G., Etimologii rom\u00e2ne\u015fti<\/em>, Ia\u015fi, 1910.<\/p>\n

Pliny, G. S., Natural History<\/em>, Penguin Classics, Penguin Publishing Group, 1991<\/p>\n

Vasmer, M., Russisches Etymologisches W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em>, Heidelberg, 1953-1955.<\/p>\n

Vasmer, M., Russisches Etymologisches W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em>, Heidelberg, 1953-1955.<\/p>\n

Vinereanu, M., Originea traco<\/em>–dac\u0103 a limbii rom\u00e2ne<\/em>, Pontos, Chi\u015fin\u0103u, 2003.<\/p>\n

Vinereanu, M., Dic\u021bionar<\/em> etimologic<\/em> al<\/em> limbii rom\u00e2ne<\/em>, Editura Alcor-Edimpex, Bucure\u0219ti, 2008.<\/p>\n

Vinereaau, M., R\u0103d\u0103cini<\/em> nostratice<\/em> \u00een<\/em> limba<\/em> rom\u00e2n\u0103<\/em> (Nostratic Roots in Romanian Language), Editura Alcor-Edimpex, Bucure\u0219ti, 2010.<\/p>\n

Vinereanu, M., Adev\u0103ruri<\/em> incomode<\/em> despre<\/em> limba<\/em> rom\u00e2n\u0103<\/em>, Editura Uranus, Bucure\u0219ti, 2018.<\/p>\n

Vinereanu, M., Fondul<\/em> lexical<\/em> principal<\/em> al<\/em> limbii<\/em> rom\u00e2ne<\/em>, Editura Uranus, Bucure\u0219ti, 2020.<\/p>\n

Vinereanu, M., Dic\u021bionarul etimologic al limbii rom\u00e2ne<\/em>, Editura Uranus, Bucure\u0219ti, 2023.<\/p>\n

W-H: Walde, A., Hoffmann J.B., Lateinisches etymologisches<\/em> W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em> (vol. I+II), Winter Verlag, Heidelberg<\/p>\n

W-P: Walde, A., Pokorny, J., Indogermanisches Etymologisches W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em>, Bern, M\u00fcnchen, 1959.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romanian plug \u2018plough\u2019 (Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian plug id) is considered to be of Slavic origin, namely from OCS plug\u044a id., from Miklosich and Cihac (second half of 19th century, and 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