[Lexicog] plough mud

Wed May 26 01:58:53 UTC 2010

And one more thing from W's brother who has a PhD in English literature:

I'm pretty sure that the vowel sound in 'plough' has always rhymed with 'now', though these have not always sounded the same as they do today (if that makes sense?).  whether there's been some sort of consonant at the end of it is possible, but wouldn't affect the vowel sound--for instance 'enough' could variably be spelled, at least in 16th c. poetry, 'enow'--dependent on the 'w' and the 'gh' indicating a sort of gargle that really would be optional in pronunciation (think of the name mcdonogh, where the 'gh' can be a sort of back of the throat fricative or just not pronounced).  (This is a little tricky bc of regional dialects in the british isles, though--there is one entry in the oxford english dictionary (OED) from scotland in the 13th c where it looks like the vowel might have been more 'uh' than 'ow'.  that was a long time ago, though, in a barbarous place).

I'm sort of skeptical that plough mud could be used as fertilizer (despite the fact that it stinks) given that it sits in salt water half the day.  but somebody else would know that better than i.

as to the real question, why is plough mud called that, no idea.  here's what the OED gives as one entry for 'pluff':

B. adj.    Puffed up, swollen; soft, spongy. Also fig. Now chiefly in pluff mud n. U.S. regional (chiefly S. Carolina) a type of soft, silty mud found in tidal marshes. Cf. PLUFFY <http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:2110/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=pluff&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=Hxzh-195xA2-5684&result_place=1&xrefword=pluffy&ps=adj.>  adj. 

1673 Answer to Seasonable Disc. 11 All of you look'd as pluffe and big upon the Layty, as starch it self could make you. 1853 Southern Q. Rev. Apr. 513 At the depth of thirteen feet the blue, tenacious, pluff-mud and shells of a more ancient geological epoch are reached. 1855 Littell's Living Age 3 Feb. 291/2 Pluff, puffed up or plumped up, as a spongy substance... A bag of feathers is pluff. 1880  <http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:2110/help/bib/oed2-c4.html#t-q-couch> T. Q. COUCH East Cornwall Words 97 An old turnip is said to be pluff. 1937 Washington Post 9 June 8/7 As the fragrance of burning peat to the Irishman, so is the smell of pluff mud to the coastal South Carolinian. 2001 J. WATERMAN Arctic Crossing III. 272 Holding tightly to land, I get stuck repeatedly in pluff mud.

we could then easily attribute the respelling of pluff to plough to the literacy of our ancestors.  so that the spelling 'plough' comes about because of spelling pluff (i.e. puffy) with an ough (like rough) rather than it having anything to do with plowing.  This explanation is more satisfying to me, but still somewhat tenuous.  

To really find out the answer, i'm afraid, would require an awful lot of research involving reading old documents from the lowcountry.

From: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com [mailto:lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Crockett
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 5:47 PM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Lexicog] plough mud

I checked with some friends from Charleston and here is what they said in several emails numbered in order below:

#1: From: R - All I know is that now, it is in fact pronounced “pluff” and is a terrible and beautiful smell to me at the same time.  Smells like the marsh. I have never heard it pronounced any other way, and both of us have family that still say many things the “old way.”

#2: From R - The only place we have this stuff is in the marsh…which is full of salt.  The only things we ever see growing there are marsh grass and fiddler crabs.  Granted, there are a lot of old rice patties in Charleston.  Still, they don’t grow in “pluff” mud.  I cannot imagine plowing anything that grows in that stuff, and it does seem very different from the dirt that is left behind after normal plants are plowed (my grandparents were farmers).  Another thought is, having grown up visiting a low country farm a lot, I never heard my grandparents refer to mud there as plow or pluff mud.  W’s grandparents were farmers too (and W’s family lived on the pluff mud).  He agrees that pluff mud is specific to the marshes and is not connected to farming (at least now).  We will call W’s dad who is the only person we know who might possibly have some other take on this.  W suggests that you try and find the German root of the word and see what you come up with.  We’ll let you know if we get anything from W’s dad.

#3: From R - Looked it up, and rice did, in fact, grow in pluff mud

#4: From R's mom - I asked W's dad and he has no clue, but the plough concept does not work for me.  Pluff Mud is salt water.  Marsh grass is about the only plant that grows in it.  Plowing it makes no sense.  Below is a brief description of the rice cultivation along coastal SC and from what you can see at places like Middleton, there was no plowing that occurred.  Rice is the only other thing that I am aware ever grew in pluff mud.  For someone who has experienced getting his feet in the mud, it does make a popping sound when the foot is pulled out.

This prime, quality soil, abundant for hundreds of square miles around Charleston, was one of the reasons that in the 1700's and 1800's rice production became by far the city's most important industry. The quality of the crop was unsurpassed, and several well-known varieties came from the area, such as one known as  <http://www.charlestonwiki.org/index.php?title=Carolina_Gold&action=edit> Carolina Gold. 

The soft soil couldn't support the types of farming machinery available at the time. But in Charleston, where slave labor was used to work the fields, this was not a major problem. Rice had been being cultivated in Africa for hundreds of years so most of the slaves arriving in Charleston already had the knowledge they needed to be efficient workers. 

After the Civil War rice produced in Charleston could no longer compete on the open market due to the expensive cost of labor to work the fields. Louisiana, however, had soil very similar to Charlestons' but not quite as soft. Machinery could be used there and Louisiana still produces a large cash crop of rice each year. 

 <http://www.charlestonwiki.org/Middleton_Place> Middleton Place Plantation in Charleston still has a preserved section of rice field which is kept up somewhat but not on a scale large enough to be profitable. It is mainly used for education and tourism purposes. 

#5: From R: I think my mom makes a good point here.  Also, my mother in law says it's called pluff mud because of the sound it makes when you walk on it.  I read somewhere else that “pluff” is the sound things make when they fall in it. Very true.  Not sure if this has anything to do with the name or if it is just common thought, but that’s the word on the street at least. 

Crockett

From: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com [mailto:lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of David Frank
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 10:23 PM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Lexicog] plough mud

I was in Charleston, SC, last week, a friend of mine who is a researcher and an author but not a linguist asked me to help make some sense out of the term "plough mud," pronounced and sometimes spelled "pluff mud." You can do a Google search if you want to see more about how the term is used. This term seems to be local to Charleston.

Plough mud is dark brown silty mud that reportedly can be used as fertilizer. I was asked whether perhaps "plough" (plow) was pronounced a couple hundred years ago with an /f/ sound at the end, rhyming with English "rough." I said that I didn't know, but I would try to find out.

What we do know is that "plough mud" and "pluff mud" refer to the same thing, and that the latter spelling is more representative of its pronunciation.

What we don't know is if this term really had anything to do with plowing. That could be a folk etymology.

Another thing I don't know is whether "plough" was ever pronounced, in the past, perhaps dialectally, like "pluff." It is a reasonable guess, based on analogy with "rough," but a reasonable guess isn't good enough. In fact, the little bit of etymological research I have done has not shown that to be a pronunciation.

Does anyone reading this know the answer? Or else, does anybody know how to find out the answer?

-- David

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