LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · neutersecond declension

arātrum

arātrum n (genitive arātrī)
Classical[aˈraː.trũː]Ecclesiastical[aˈraː.trum]
Mille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. plough or plow (a device pulled through the ground in order to break it open into furrows for planting)
    tempus erat quō versa iugō referuntur arātra It was the hour when [up]turned plows are being brought back by yoked [oxen] (“versa arātra”: i.e., plows somehow turned so that the plowshares are not in contact with the soil. See: Plough.)8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 5.497

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

quō terra aperītur et vertitur; bovēs arātrum trahunt.
arātrum -ī n — in Mille Verba, Rūs et Agrīcultūra
īnstrūmentum quō terra finditur
arātrum -ī (n) — in Metamorphoses I, ch. 5

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativearātrumarātra
genitivearātrīarātrōrum
dativearātrōarātrīs
accusativearātrumarātra
ablativearātrōarātrīs
vocativearātrumarātra

ărātrum, i, n. ἄροτρον,
I. a plough (the inventor of which was Byzyges, acc. to Plin. 7, 56, 57, § 199; or Triptolemus, acc. to Verg. G. 1, 19. The parts of it were temo, stiva, manicula, vomer, buris, aures, and dentale. For a description of it, v. Verg. G. 1, 162 sqq.; Pauly's Real-Ency. I. pp. 665 sq.; and Smith, Dict. Antiq.); Lucr. 1, 313; 5, 219: curvi moderator aratri, id. 5, 933, and id. 6, 1251; Cic. Rosc. Am. 18; id. Agr. 2, 25; id. N. D. 2, 63, 159; Verg. G. 1, 19; 1, 170 et saep.: imprimere aratrum muris, to press the plough into the walls (of a town), i. e. to turn a town into arable land, to destroy completely, Hor. C. 1, 16, 20; cf. Sen. Clem. 1, 26, 4; used for marking the boundaries of new towns, Cic. Phil. 2, 40: Aeneas urbem designat aratro, Verg. A. 5, 755, ubi v. Serv.; Cato ap. Isid. Orig. 15, 2; Inscr. Orell. 3683.

Origins

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂erh₃-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂érh₃trom
  3. Proto-Italic*aratrom
  4. Latinarātrum

Latin arātrum From Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃trom (“plough, ard”) with with long /a/ by analogy with the related verb arō, -āre (“to plough”); the expected outcome would otherwise be **aratrum. According to the linguist Margaret M. T. Watmough, the remodeling perhaps occured when a series of vowel weakenings (i.e. *aratrom > *aretrum) had obfuscated the relation to the verb arō. Equivalent to arō (“to plough”) + -trum. Cognate with Ancient Greek ᾰ̓́ροτρον (ắrotron, “plough”), Old Armenian արաւր (arawr, “plough”), Welsh aradr (“plough”), Sanskrit अ॒रित्र॑ (arítra, “oar”).

Gallo-Romance
  • Catalanaradre
  • Catalanaladre
  • Catalanarada
  • Occitanaraire
  • Frencharairefrom Occitan araire
  • Franco-Provençalarâro
  • Old Frencharere
Ibero-Romance
  • Spanishaladrofrom Aragonese aladro
  • Portuguesearado
  • Spanisharadofrom Old Spanish aradro
  • Sardinianaradufrom Old Spanish aradro
  • Asturianaladru
  • Galicianarado
Italo-Romance
  • Italianaratro
  • Italianarato
  • Sicilianaratu
Balkano-Romance
  • Romanianarat
  • Aromanianaratru
  • Aromanianarat
  • Megleno-Romanianărat

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

AntiquitiesAratrumAratrum (ἄροτρον), a plough. The antiquity of its use in Greece may be inferred from the fact that its invention is a subject of legend, being various…

Quick answers

What does arātrum mean in Latin?
arātrum, a noun, means “plough or plow (a device pulled through the ground in order to break it open into furrows for planting)”.
What is the genitive of arātrum?
The genitive singular is arātrī. arātrum is neuter, second declension.
How do you pronounce arātrum?
In classical Latin, [aˈraː.trũː]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [aˈraː.trum].
Where does arātrum come from?
Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- → Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃trom → Proto-Italic *aratrom → Latin arātrum.