English
plough
Plough comes from Old English plōh ‘hide of land, ploughland’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *plōgaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*plōgazreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150plōh‘hide of land, ploughland’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plouh
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1606–1607plough
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*plōgazreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150plōh‘hide of land, ploughland’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plouh
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1606–1607plough
Earliest quotation: c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra: “Let patient Octavia plough thy visage up / With…”
The story
Replaced Old English sulh (‘plough, furrow’); see sullow.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *plew- ‘to fly, flow, run’
fly, flow, flew, pneumonia, plutonium, fowl, flue, flay, plutocracy, plover, 25 more
Today it means
noun A device pulled through the ground in order to break it open into furrows for planting.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *plōgaz / plough