English
spica
Spica comes from Latin spica ‘a head, ear, spike’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *speikā.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*speikāreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspica‘a head, ear, spike’
- Englishtodaysame form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*speikāreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspica‘a head, ear, spike’
- Englishtodaysame form
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *spey- ‘long, thin, sharp’
spike, spine, spinal, spinach, cusp, asp, spire, buckthorn, spina, aspic, 28 more
through Latin spica ‘a head, ear, spike’
Today it means
noun A spike (kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *speikā / spica