An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Pflug

by Friedrich Kluge

Pflug, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German pfluoc (genitive -ges), masculine, Old High German pfluog, pfluoh, masculine, ‘plough’; corresponding to the equivalent Dutch ploeg, Anglo-Saxon plôh, English plough, Old Icelandic plógr. These cognates, which were diffused in Teutonic at an early period, as may be inferred from the agreement of the dialects, curiously correspond to the Slavonic class, Servian and Russian plugŭ (Lithuanian pliugas), though the normal permutation does not take place in Teutonic. The Slavonic word is probably borrowed from the Teutonic original, which was perhaps acquired during the migratory period; compare Pfad. Teutonic plôgo also appears in Rhæto-Romance and in Upper Italian; Tyrolean plof, Lombardic piò. Old Teutonic likewise contained many terms for ‘plough’ which afterwards became obsolete; Anglo-Saxon sulh (primitively allied to Latin sulcus), Gothic hôha, Old Icelandic arl, Old Saxon ęrida. —