Where does “cropland” come from?
Cropland derives from Middle English croppe and Old English land, tracing through Proto-Indo-European klān-, grewb-, ger-, and lendʰ-, referring to cultivated agricultural ground.
cropland (English): arable land
Definitions
- arable land
Ancestry of “cropland”, step by step
cropland traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English crop
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | crop | A plant, especially a cereal, grown to be... |
| 2 | Middle English | crop | — |
| 3 | Old English | cropp | the crop of a bird; the head of a flower; an ear... |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | *kropp | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | kruppaz | a body; mass; a compressed, round mass; lump;... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | grewb- | to warp, bend, crawl; to bend, crouch, crawl; to... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ger- | to turn, bend, twist, wind; to tie, bind... |