August theme: Earth and Water 🌎🌊

Introduction

Semtic *ʾartɬʼ-: "earth" and Proto-Indo-European *h₁erTeH: "earth". I connect these for several reasons (beyond the obvious). First, there are several indicators that *h₁ was pronounced as a glottal stop, including a number of other words that are apparent correspondences between PIE *h₁ and Semitic *ʾ. Second, the PIE word doesn't have a completely regular sound correspondence—the *T corresponds to a Baltic *dw -> Lithuanian dv, Germanic *þ, and Hellenic *d' (ɟ) -> Classical Greek ζ. These seem like reasonable attempts to fit a borrowed *tɬʼ into each phonology.

Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃-: "to plow" is (almost certainly) not related, but ends up getting mixed up with *h₁erTeH in a few cases, so I'm treating them both here.

Teaser

earth, aardvark, arable

Full Text

• Proto-Afro-Asiatic *ʔaritɬʼ-

  • Tamazight

    • Tashelhit ṛṛgg earth, soil
  • Chadic

    • West Chadic *Hritɬ’-

      • Pa'a riŝa earth
    • East Chadic *ʔirtɬ’-

      • Bidiyo 'iraadya valley
  • Semitic *ʾartɬʼ-

    • East Semitic

      • Akkadian 𒆠 erṣetu earth
    • Central Semitic

      • Arabic أَرْض ʾarḍ land, earth, country, ground

        • Maltese art earth
        • Swahili ardhi land, earth
        • Turkish arz earth
        • Arabic أَرْضِيَّة ʾarḍiyya floor
      • Northwest Semitic

        • Aramaic 𐡀𐡓𐡏𐡀 ʾarʿā land, soil, earth
        • Canaanite

          • Hebrew אֶרֶץ ʾéretz country, land, earth, ground

            • Hebrew אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל ʾéretz yisraél Land of Israel
          • Phoenician 𐤀𐤓𐤑 ʾrṣ earth, land

            • Punic 𐤀𐤓𐤎 ʾrs earth
        • Ugaritic 𐎀𐎗𐎕 ảrṣ earth, ground

          • Ugaritic 𐎀𐎗𐎕𐎊 ʾArṣay Divinity of the earth and underworld
    • Proto-Indo-European *h₁erTeH

      • Balto-Slavic

        • East Baltic

          • Lithuanian erdvė̃ space, expanse
      • Celtic

        • Brythonic

          • Welsh erw field, acre, erw

            • English erw
      • Germanic *erþō earth

        • East Germanic

          • Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰 airþa earth
        • North Germanic

          • Old Norse jǫrð

            • Danish jord earth, dirt, soil, ground
            • Icelandic jörð earth, ground, estate
            • Old Norse Jǫrð Personification of the earth A giantess and mother of Thor

              • Icelandic Jörð Jord

                • English Jord
        • West Germanic

          • Old English eorþe earth, ground, dry land

            • English earth

              • English Middle Earth
            • Scots yird earth, Earth, to bury ^[1]
          • Frankish

            • Dutch aarde earth, soil, ground

              • Afrikaans aarde

                • Afrikaans aardwolf aardwolf lit. "earth-wolf"

                  • Afrikaans erdwolf
                  • Dutch aardwolf aardwolf
                  • English aardwolf
                • Afrikaans aardvark aardwolf lit. "earth-pig"

                  • Afrikaans erdvark
                  • English aardvark
          • Old High German erda Earth, soil, ground

            • German Erde Earth, soil, ground
            • Yiddish ערד erd Earth, earth, ground, soil
        • Germanic *erþōbazją strawberry lit. "earth-berry"

          • North Germanic

            • Old Norse jarðber strawberry

              • Danish jordbær strawberry
              • Icelandic jarðarber strawberry
          • West Germanic

            • Old English eorþberġe strawberry
            • Frankish

              • Dutch aardbei strawberry

                • Malay arbei strawberry
            • Old High German erdberi strawberry

              • German Erdbeere strawberry
      • Hellenic *eraďe

        • Classical Greek ἔραζε éraze to/on the ground
• Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- to plow

  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂éryeti to be plowing

    • Balto-Slavic *arˀti

      • East Baltic

        • Lithuanian árti to plow
      • Slavic *oràti to plow

        • East Slavic

          • Russian ора́ть orátʹ to plow archaic
        • South Slavic

          • Serbo-Croatian о̀рати òrati to plow, to till
        • West Slavic

          • Polish orać to plow, to work hard
    • Celtic *aryeti to plow

      • Brythonic *ėrðɨd to plow

        • Welsh aredig to plow
      • Old Irish airid to plow, to till

        • Irish air to plow archaic
    • Germanic *arjanã to plow

      • East Germanic

        • Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 arjan to plow
      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse erja

          • Danish ærje
          • Icelandic erja to plow, to till
      • West Germanic

        • Old English erian to plow

          • English ear to plow archaic, dialectic
        • Old High German erren
    • Hellenic *aroyō to plow, to till

      • Classical Greek ἀρόω aróō I plow, I till, I sow, I beget

        • Classical Greek ἀροτήρ arotḗr plower, farmworker
    • Italic *araō

      • Latin arāre I plow, I till, I cultivate land, I acquire by farming

        • Central Romance

          • Italian arare to plow
        • Eastern Romance

          • Romanian a ara to plow
        • Insular Romance

          • Sardinian arai to plow
        • Western Romance

          • Spanish arar to plow
        • Latin arabilis able to be plowed, able to be farmed, capable of growing crops, arable

          • Central Romance

            • Italian arabile arable
          • Western Romance

            • French arable arable

              • English arable
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃wós plowable, arable

    • Celtic *arwor

      • Brythonic

        • Welsh erw field, acre, erw

          • English erw
      • Old Irish arbar

        • Irish arbhar grain, cereal
    • Italic

      • Latin arvus arable, plowed, cultivated
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃wons

    • Old Armenian հարաւունք harawunkʿ tilled land, fields, sowing
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃ōs plowing action or result noun

    • Old Armenian արօս arōs untilled soil

      • Armenian արօս arōs fallow field
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃trom plow instrumental

    • Old Armenian արօր arōr plow

      • Armenian արոր aror plow
    • Balto-Slavic *árˀtla plow

      • East Baltic

        • Lithuanian árklas scratch plow, ard
      • Slavic *òrdlo plow

        • East Slavic рало ralo

          • Russian ра́ло rálo plow
        • South Slavic

          • Old Church Slavonic рало ralo
          • Serbo-Croatian ра̏ло rȁlo plow, plowshare
        • West Slavic

          • Polish radło simple plow, ard
    • Celtic *aratrom plow

      • Brythonic *aradr plow

        • Welsh aradr plow
      • Old Irish

        • Irish arathar plow archaic
    • Germanic *arþrã plow

      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse arðr plow

          • Danish ard
          • Norwegian ard scratch plow, ard

            • English ard
          • Swedish årder scratch plow, ard
        • Finnic *atra plow

          • Finnish aura plow, V of birds
    • Hellenic

      • Classical Greek ᾰ̓́ροτρον árotron plow

        • Greek άροτρο árotro plow
    • Italic

      • Latin arātrum plow

        • Central Romance

          • Italian aratro plow
        • Eastern Romance

          • Romanian arat plow
        • Insular Romance

          • Sardinian aradu
        • Western Romance

          • French araire scratch plow, ard
          • Spanish arado plow
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃tis

    • Germanic *ardiz nature, character, kind ^[2]

      • West Germanic

        • Old English eard homeland, earth, land, state, condition

          • Scots airt direction, area, to guide, to direct, to confine
          • Old English Middaneard the world, the inhabited world re-analyzed from Middanġeard

            • English Middle Earth
        • Frankish *ard

          • Dutch aard nature, character, disposition
        • Old High German *art

          • German Art kind, type, species, nature, method

            • German Mundart dialect
        • Old Saxon *ard

          • Low German Aard
          • Danish art kind, nature, species

Visual

Collected English words

Jord, earth, Middle Earth, aardwolf, aardvark, ear, arable, erw, ard

Footnotes

1. ^

   There seems to be some confusion over whether Scots yird is from eorthe (English earth) or ġeard (English yard). The evidence seems better for eorthe. Compare the re-analysis of Old English Middanġeard (Midgard) to Middaneard (Middle Earth).

2. ^

   Germanic *ardiz: "nature, character, kind" is kind of odd. If you just looked at Old English eard: "homeland, earth, land, state, condition", that would seem to back up the connection to *h₂érh₃- suggested by the sounds. But none of the other languages have that "earth"/"land" connection. So, is Old English innovative in that (possibly mixing it up with eorþe), or is Old English conservative and thet Germanic should be understood as have a meaning more like "local character, the nature of a particular place or of the people from a particular place, the way things are done in a place"?