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Origin and history of sower

sower(n.)

Middle English souere, "one who scatters seed on the ground to be grown for food," from Old English sawere, agent noun from sow (v.). As "that which sows, a sowing machine," 1728.

Entries linking to sower

sow(v.)

Middle English souen, from Old English sawan "to scatter seed upon the ground or plant it in the earth, disseminate" (class VII strong verb; past tense seow, past participle sawen), from Proto-Germanic *sean (source also of Old Norse sa, Old Saxon saian, Middle Dutch sayen, Dutch zaaien, Old High German sawen, German säen, Gothic saian).

This is reconstructed to be from PIE root *sē- "to sow," source of semen, season (n.), seed (n.). The figurative sense of "spread abroad, disseminate" was in Old English; of physical things other than seed, "scatter over, besprinkle," mid-14c. Related: Sowed, sown; sowing. Sowing machine "device for sowing seed" is by 1812.

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