![]() Words with the same root appeared with related meanings: in Raetic plaumorati "wheeled heavy plough" ( Pliny, Nat. In many Slavic languages and in Romanian the word is "plug". ![]() The German cognate is "pflug", the Dutch "ploeg" and the Swedish "plog". The modern word comes from the Old Norse plógr, and is therefore Germanic, but it appears relatively late (it is not attested in Gothic) and is thought to be a loan from one of the north Italic languages. ![]() Old English sulh (modern dialectal sullow), Old High German medela, geiza, huohilī(n), Old Norse arðr ( Swedish årder), and Gothic hōha, all presumably referring to the ard (scratch plough). In older English, as in other Germanic languages, the plough was traditionally known by other names, e.g. Used instead is shallower ploughing or other less-invasive conservation tillage. Use of the traditional plough has decreased in some areas threatened by soil damage and erosion. These in turn were superseded by internal-combustion-powered tractors in the early 20th century. With the Industrial Revolution came the possibility of steam engines to pull ploughs. Later, horses and mules were used in many areas. Ploughs were initially powered by humans, but the use of farm animals is considerably more efficient. Ploughing and cultivating soil evens the content of the upper 12 to 25 centimetres (5 to 10 in) layer of soil, where most plant feeder roots grow. In modern use, a ploughed field is normally left to dry and then harrowed before planting. Trenches cut by the plough are called furrows. The prime purpose of ploughing is to turn over the uppermost soil, bringing fresh nutrients to the surface while burying weeds and crop remains to decay. Celtic peoples first came to use wheeled ploughs in the Roman era. The earliest ploughs had no wheels such a plough was known to the Romans as an aratrum. It has been fundamental to farming for most of history. A plough may have a wooden, iron or steel frame, with a blade attached to cut and loosen the soil. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. The full phrase Mamet quotes doesn't appear in the song, but as this image of an antique cider tankard shows, when part of the song was reproduced on plates and mugs, a line about industry might be added as a sort of caption, which suggests that it is items bearing this later verse that Mamet was referencing.Traditional ploughing: a farmer works the land with horses and ploughĪ plough or plow ( US both / p l aʊ/) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Were it not for my seeding you'd have but poor feeding This song, unlike the earlier, is not a complaint at those claiming a share of farmers' profits, though it recognises the reliance of others on the farmers' work, the whole is more of a statement of content with the speakers lot: The other, which seems more relevant to the Mamet source is an early 19th century song which is known under various titles: The Farmer's Toast, Success to the Farmer, Jolly Farmer, and God Speed the Plough. To have whete and otys at the kyngis nede Īnd to the kyngis courte we moste it lede,Īnd our payment shal be a styk of a bough Īnd yet we moste speke faire for drede. One is an early 16th-century poem which borrows heavily from Geoffrey Chaucer's Monk's Tale and is described in Wikipedia asĪ short, satirical complaint, listing the various indolent members of the clergy who will demand a share of the ploughman's harvest, rendering his work futile. There are (at least) two songs which use the phrase 'God speed the plough'. Speed-the-Plow was perfect, because, not only did it mean work, it also suggested having to plow under and start over again.''Īs you observe, Speed the Plow/Plough' is a Traditional song. ''This, I knew, was a play about work and about the end of the world, so ''We were at a forge, watching a friend of mine pound out the steel for a hunting knife, and I remembered the saying that you see on a lot of old plates and mugs: Industry produceth wealth. He relates the origin of the play's title in the Chicago Tribune in 1989įinally, on a hunting trip in East Texas, Mamet got the title for his play. Mamet seems to have not been referencing a song itself so much as an aphorism derived from its presentation on items of crockery.
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