sow [OE] Sow in the sense to plant is Old English and had the sense ‘disseminate’ from early on. The image of disseminate [LME] is the same, for it comes from Latin semen [LME] meaning ‘seed’. Seed [OE] in turn comes from the same Germanic root as sow. The differently pronounced sow that is the female pig is also Old English, and goes back to an Indo-European root shared by Latin sus and Greek hus.