A Not so much why oats, but why wild oats. The saying refers to a species of European grass with the formal name Avena fatua, which has been called wild oats in English for centuries. Some botanists believe that this is the wild original of cultivated oats. Farmers have hated it since ancient times because it is a weed that is useless as a cereal plant, but its seeds have always been difficult to separate from those of useful cereals and have tended to survive and multiply from year to year. The only way to remove it was to trample the fields and weed them by hand. Even today, this is still a problem, despite modern seed cleaning and selective weed killers. It is less clear when the meaning has changed to its current meaning. That is, currently, “sowing wild oats” usually means (for a man) having sex with as many women as possible. “Wild oats” here means a hypothetical undesirable offspring. The proverb is first mentioned in English in 1542 in a treatise by the Protestant pastor Thomas Becon of Norfolk, although I was told that a related phrase appeared in the works of the Roman author Plautus. It is common in older English literature, no doubt because the image struck a chord in a society that was still predominantly agrarian. Here is a typical example of Louisa May Alcott`s Little Women from 1869: “Boys will be boys, young men will have to sow their wild oats, and women will not expect miracles.” Thus, sowing wild oats was the archetype of useless occupation, even worse than useless. It is not surprising that the phrase “sowing wild oats” has been applied figuratively to young men who waste their time in stupid or idle hobbies.
But again, there is a strong sexual association, because the expression has often been applied in a more or less indulgent way, and always to young men on what has been politely called youth distraction. The associations between male sexual activity and seed sowing are quite obvious. Wild oats, “crops that will be regretted”, is first attested in the 1560s, in terms of the folly of sowing them instead of good grains. Q From Len Jayson: Can you tell me the derivation of sowing wild oats? Why oatmeal? “Sow your (wild) oats” Merriam-Webster.com dictionary, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sow%20one%27s%20%28wild%29%20oats. Retrieved 11 October 2022. Subscribe to America`s largest dictionary and get thousands of additional definitions and advanced search – ad-free! What is the meaning of the term “sowing wild oats”? Where does it come from? Why was “wild oats” chosen? How to use a word that (literally) leads to something. If you have a pig in the bag – what exactly is a poke?.