*h₂órh₃-/h₂r̥h₃-´

The Hittite verb ḫarra-/ḫarr-^(ḫi) (and by extension CLuw. ḫarranta, ḫarra(/i)- ´crushing stone´ and the HLuw. cognates) is traditionally connected to the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂erh₃- ‘to plough’ (Melchert 1994a:79,EDHIL:300f., Sasseville 2021a:394, contra HED H:136f., see HEG H:169 for the older literature). For the difficulty of the semantics between ‘to crush’ and ‘to plough’ pointed out by Oettinger 1979a:506 n. 28, see EDHIL:301. In any case, a root verb of the ḫi-conjugation as in Hittite is reconstructed here, i.e. PAnat. *h₂órh₃-/h₂r̥h₃-´ ‘to crush’.

[D.S.]

The fact that Hittite ḫarra-/ḫarr-^(ḫi) means ‘to crush, grind’ while all non-Anatolian languages point to a meaning ‘to use an ard, plow’ has been used as an argument to reconstruct a basic meaning ‘crush, grind’ for the root *h₂erh₃- and see the specialization ‘crush (the soil)’ > ‘use an ard, plow’ as a semantic development that happened in Core (or European) Indo-European (thus EDHIL:9f., 301, 314, EDPG:34, Weiss 2020b:484f.). However, Hittite ḫarš-^(mi), which means ‘to crush the soil, till’ (see Ofitsch 2001a), attests a similar semantic specialization – at least for the sigmatic stem *h₂erh₃-s- (see below) – also for Anatolian. It would be an odd coincidence that a rather nondescript *h₂erh₃(-s)- ‘crush, grind’ acquired the technical meaning ‘cultivate soil’ entirely independently from the other Indo-European languages. It seems more likely that *h₂erh₃- ‘crush, break, grind’ was used in an agricultural context for the crushing of the soil already at a common pre-stage of all Indo-European languages (see also EDHIL:314; LIV²:272 “aufbrechen, pflügen”), using an ard or – more likely – its functional predecessor, the hand hoe (see Ofitsch 2001a:317f.). Note, however, that this hypothetical specialization is not reflected in the synchronic usage of Hittite ḫarra-/ḫarr-^(ḫi) ‘to crush’, which is never used of soil (see HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:263-265). For the archaeological record and the semantic development of *h₂erh₃- to mean ‘to use an ard (*h₂erh₃-tro-)’ as a specific “European Indo-European” feature see Weiss 2020b:483-485.

The European Indo-European languages concur in continuing a *-i̯e/o-present *h₂erh₃-i̯e/o- ‘to plow, use an ard’ (i.e., with regular deletion of the root-final laryngeal before yod in accordance with Pinault’s law reflected in Balto-Slavic, Germanic, and Celtic; with an analogically restored laryngeal in Greek and Latin). These languages (plus Armenian) are also the idioms that preserve continuants of an instrument noun *h₂erh₃-tro- ‘ard, plow’ (Latin arātrum was analogically remade on the present stem arāre; Lithuanian árklas reflects the common replacement of *-tro- by *-tlo- > -kla-; Proto-Slavic *òrdlo replaced *-tro- by *-d^hlo-; on Tocharian āre see the notes above). Neither formation is attested in the Anatolian branch, where we find a root verb of the ḫi-conjugation instead (see above). The sigmatic verb Hittite ḫarš-^(mi) ‘to crush the soil, plow’ (← ḫarš-^(ḫi) as per EDHIL:312f.), however, has been claimed to continue the old s-aorist (cf. Ancient Greek ἤροσα, Old Irish subj. araid, ·ara), see the literature in LIV²:273 s.v. *h₂erh₃- note 6. Refuting an s-aorist origin, Søborg 2020a:628 argues for a sigmatic root extension variant *h₂erh₃s- to explain ḫarš-^(mi). Note that the loss of *h₃ in this position seems to be lautgesetzlich, as evidenced by Hittite karš- n. ‘(emmer) wheat’ < *k̑érh₃-s ‘cereal’ (cf. Latin Cerēs, goddess of crops; see Höfler 2018a:126f. with literature).

[S.H.]

Hittite ḫarra-/ḫarr-^(ḫi) ‘to crush’, ḫarš-^(mi) ‘to crush the soil, plow’, Cuneiform Luwian ḫarra- ‘to crush (?)’, ^NA4ḫarra(/i)- ‘millstone’, Hieroglyphic Luwian */harra-⁽ⁱ⁾/ ‘to crush (?)’.See above and EDHIL:300f. s.v. ḫarra-ⁱ / ḫarr-, 312–314 s.v. hārš-⁽ⁱ⁾.

Vedic urvárā- f. ‘fertile soil, field, the earth’.Cf., e.g., EWAia I:228f. s.v. urvárā-.

Old and Young Avestan uruuarā- f. (mostly pl.) ‘plant(s), plant-covered soil’.Cf., e.g., EWAia I:228f. s.v. urvárā-.

Ancient Greek ἀρόω (ἤροσα, ἄροτος) ‘plow, till’ (Il.+), ἀρότης, ἀροτήρ ‘plower’ (Il.+)), ἄροτρον n. ‘plow’ (Il.+), ἄρουρα ‘tilled or arable land, earth’ (Il.+), Mycenaean a-ro-u-ra /aroura/.Cf., e.g., GEW I:147f. s.vv. ἄροτρον, ἄρουρα, ἀρόω, EDG:136f. s.v. ἀρόω, DMic I:106 s.v. a-ro-u-ra, Peters 1980a:134 note 82.

Latin arō, -āre ‘to plow’ (Plaut.+), arātor ‘plower’ (Luc.+), arātrum ‘plow’ (Cato+), arvum n., arva f. ‘plowed land’ (Cic.+/Liv. Andr.+), Umbrian arvamen (acc. sg. + -en), arven (loc. sg. + -en) f. ‘field’, arvia, aruvia, arviu, aruio (acc. pl.) ‘grain’, (?) urvum n. ‘curved part of a plow’ (Varr.+) if *h₂or(h₃)-u̯o-.Cf., e.g., EDLIL:55 s.v. arō, Untermann 2000a:124f. s.v. U.arvam, 125f. s.v. U.arvia.

Armenian (h)arawr, arōr ‘plow’, harawownkʻ pl. ‘tilled land, fields; sowing time’, (?) araws ‘virgin soil’.Cf., e.g., Olsen 1999a:35, 613f., EDAIL:128f. s.v. arawr, harawr, 394f. s.v. harawunkʻ, 128 s.v. araws.

Old Irish airid, ·air ‘to plow’, Middle Welsh eredic ‘to plow’ (1sg. arðaf, 3sg. arð), Modern Welsh arddu, Middle Breton arat ‘plowing’, Late Cornish aras ‘plowing’, Old Irish arathar m., n. ‘plow’, Middle Welsh aradr ‘id.’, Middle Breton arazr ‘id.’, Old Cornish aradar ‘id.’, Old Irish ar ‘plowing, tilling, cultivating; husbandry; plowed land’, Middle Welsh ar, Modern Welsh âr ‘plowed land’, Old Irish arbor n., gen. sg. arbe, dat. sg. arbaimm, nom.-acc. pl. arbanna ‘grain, corn; (pl.) crops’.Cf., e.g., Schumacher 2004a:204f., EDPC:43f. s.v. *ar-yo-, 40 s.v. *aratro-, 42 s.v. *aro-, 40 s.v. *arawar / *arawen-, Stüber 1998a:84.

Proto-Germanic *arjana- ‘to plow’ (Gothic arjan, Old English erian, English ear (archaic), Old High German erren, Old Norse erja, Swedish ärja, etc.), *arþra- n. ‘plow’ (Old Norse arðr, Norwegian, Danish ard, Swedish årder).Cf., e.g.,Seebold 1970a:81–83 s.v. *ar-ja-, EDPG:34 s.v. *arjan-, 36 s.v. *arþra-.

Tocharian B āre ‘plow(ing)’, A āre ‘plow’.Cf., e.g., Adams 1999a: s.v. āre, Pinault 2020a:386f., Weiss 2020b:484 note 16.

Lithuanian ariù (árti) ‘to plow’, Latvian aru (ar̂t) ‘id.’, Lithuanian árklas m. ‘plow’, Latvian ãrkls, ar̂kls m. ‘id.’, Lithuanian armuõ m. ‘arable horizon (layer of soil); quagmire’.Cf., e.g., ALEW I:51f. s.v. árti, 49f. s.v. árklas.

Proto-Slavic *oràti ‘to plow’ (OCS orati, Russian orát’, Serbo-Croatian òrati, Czech orat, etc.), *òrdlo n. ‘plow’ (OCS ralo, Russian rálo, Serbo-Croatian rȁlo, Czech rádlo, etc.).Cf., e.g., EDSIL:372f. s.v. *oràti, 373f. s.v. *òrdlo.

Albanian arë ‘arable land, field’.Cf., e.g., Demiraj 1997a:80f.