On Plaumorati

Saskia Pronk-Tiethoff in her very interesting book “The Germanic Loanwords in Protoslavic” discusses also the word “plough”.  This word appears in all Slavic languages in the following forms:

• pług – in Polish (pronounced pwoog in English in English pronounciation);
• pluh – in Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian;
• płuh – in Upper Sorbian (pwooh);
• pług – in Lower Sorbian (pwoog);
• plaug – in Polabian;
• plug – in Russian (ploog), Serbo-Croatian and Slovene (accent differs);

Of course, in Cyryllic alphabets the word is written плуг.

The same word appears in Germanic languages, e.g.:

• pflug – German;
• plough – English;
• ploeg – Dutch;
• phluog – Old High German;
• pfluoc – Middle High German;
• plog – Old English – in the meaning of plough of land!;
• plöch – Old Frisian;
• plovum – Langobardic (see Edictus Rothari, chapter 288; also Leges Baiuwaiorum);

The word is not Germanic or, at least, not proto-Germanic (if such a language existed) since it is not attested in Gothic.  On the other hand, Gothic has the word hoha for plough which seems to correspond to the Slavic socha/sokha.  Finally, in addition to plug and soha, Slavic also has radło/rádlo which corresponds to the ard plough.  In general, these instruments are understood to be slightly different.  Thus:

• radło (rádlo/pа́ло/орало) – ard plow – the most ancient of “ploughs” (note the Germanic/Slavic ard/rad shift, e.g., Ardogast/Radogast);

• socha (sokha/cохa) – ard plow with two ards (or rads);

• plug – plough, much heavier, using metal and typically equipped with wheels;

Where Did Ploughs Come From?

The first mention of the word is quite ancient and seems to have been made by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History – a veritable almanac of knowledge.  The form given by Pliny is plaumorati.  The passage follows:

Pliny, Natural History 18,48 (or 18, 172 by lines)

“Ploughshares are of various kinds. The coulter is the iron part that cuts up the dense earth before it is broken into pieces, and traces beforehand by its incisions the future furrows, which the share, reversed, is to open out with its teeth.  Another kind—the common ploughshare—is nothing more than a lever, furnished with a pointed beak; while another variety, which is only used in light, easy soils, does not present an edge projecting from the share-beam throughout, but only a small point at the extremity. In a fourth kind again, this point is larger and formed with a cutting edge; by the agency of which implement, it both cleaves the ground, and, with the sharp edges at the sides, cuts up the weeds by the roots. There has been invented, at a comparatively recent period, in that part of Gaul known as Rhætia, a ploughshare with the addition of two small wheels, and known by the name of “plaumorati.”  The extremity of the share in this has the form of a spade: it is only used, however, for sowing in cultivated lands, and upon soils which are nearly fallow. The broader the plough-share, the better it is for turning up the clods of earth. Immediately after ploughing, the seed is put into the ground, and then harrows with long teeth are drawn over it.  Lands which have been sown in this way require no hoeing, but two or three pairs of oxen are employed in ploughing.  It is a fair estimate to consider that a single yoke of oxen can work forty jugera of land in the year, where the soil is light, and thirty where it is stubborn.”

“Vomerum [“spades”] plura genera: culter vocatur inflexus praedensam, priusquam proscindatur, terram secans futurisque sulcis vestigia praescribens incisuris, quas resupinus in arando mordeat vomer. alterum genus est volgare rostrati vectis. tertium in solo facili, nec toto porrectum dentali, sed exigua cuspide in rostro.  latior haec quarto generi et acutior in mucronem fastigata eodemque gladio scindens solum et acie laterum radices herbarum secans. non pridem inventum in Raetia Galliae duas addere tali rotulas, quod genus vocant plaumorati. cuspis effigiem palae habet.  serunt ita non nisi culta terra et fere nova. latitudo vomeris caespites versat. semen protinus iniciunt cratesque dentatas supertrahunt. nec sarienda sunt hoc modo sata, sed protelis binis ternisque sic arant. uno boum iugo censeri anno facilis soli quadragena iugera, difficilis tricena iustum est.”

Plaumorati

(On the Plaum)

The word plaumorati has caused a rather long discussion as to its meaning and origin.  Most people think it’s a compound word and that the first part is simply “plow”.  But is it?

Plough or plug has a “g” in it.  Not an “m”.  In this respect it has been asserted that the form plovum was the original form.

However, it is our understanding that:

• the combination of “pl” is unusual in Langobardic;

• several explanations have been given for the shift from “g” to “v” and, obviously, if that is true, then there is really no question that plug or plog came before *plovum (and, If so, there may have been a plug even at the time of the plaumorati; and, if so, then plaumorati would not even refer to a plough); and,

• in any event, today’s cognate words may, apparently, be derived from other “original” forms (not just plovum) – even following the linguist’s own rules;
  • forms such as *ploda and plodum; such forms existed in Latin and, interestingly, in the region of Trentino which just happens to lie right next to the region of Veneto;

What is even more interesting in Trentino, the word *ploda meant harvest (see W. Foerster Der Pflug in Frankreich on page 12; Schneller, Die romanischen Volksmundarten in Suedtirol, page 165).

Remarkably, plon/plony means the same thing in Slavic languages (or płód/płódy which may have meant the same thing before it meant “fetus”).   That is one Slavic similarity.

Another may be seen if we look at the “m” – where does the “m come from? One suggestion could be lemiesz meaning the piece of the plough that actually cuts the soil:  

Yet another if we ignore the “m” may be plewa/plewić meaning weed/get the weeds out.

All this fits better if we con side that Pliny is not talking about ploughs but rather about ploughshares.

Whether a lemiesz used to be a plemiesz we do not know.  However, plemie means tribe and plemnik means, ahem, seed.  Consequently, it would not be unreasonable that the “p” dropped at some point.

Plaumorati 

(On the -Orati)

As to where the division should take place and what the second part of the word means, there is much disagreement.  Here are some common theories as to the origin of the word – they are basically divided into two groups:

The first is a “wheeled plough”: 

• plograt – the ancient Gallic for a plough-wheel; as in Geraet/grat;

• plaustra rati – Latin;

• plaum radt – Belgic plaum (a plough) and rat or radt  (a wheel);

• plaum ratum – more generally Celtic plaum, plovum (plough) and ratum (wheel);

• plaugorati – although no such form has been recorded, some German scholars “created” or emendated a Germanic form plaumgorati – meaning, along the same lines, a wheeled plough (whether the name Much was itself, in this case, an emendation of the Slavic mucha, i.e., fly, we do not know (the word appears too in French… and in Swabian));

The second group is the  “Raetian plough”: 

• ploum Raeti – Raeitian plough – Who were the Raetians?  We are told either Celts or Illyrians.