Etymograph

English

spell

Spell comes from Old English spell ‘news, story’, from Proto-Germanic *spellą ‘speech, account, tale’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- ‘to tell’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pel-‘to tell’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spellą‘speech’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*spellreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150spell‘news’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spell
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1591spell

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pel-‘to tell’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spellą‘speech’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*spellreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150spell‘news’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spell
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1591spell

Earliest quotation: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “Vnchaine your spirits now with spelling Charmes”.

Linked words

pairs

  • spell and gospel both from Old English spell

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- ‘to tell’

spoil, spill, spool, 11 more

Another origin of spell

  1. Frankishc. 250–700*spelōnreconstructed
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400espeler
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spellen‘to read out letter by letter’
  4. Englishtodayspell

Related with etymology 1.

Another origin of spell

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150spala‘substitute’
  2. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150spelian‘to represent, take or stand in the place of another, act as a representative of another’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spelen‘to spare’
  4. Englishtodayspell

Another origin of spell

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spel‘a thin piece of wood’
  2. Englishtodayspell

Today it means

noun Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- / spell

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