Etymograph

English

spill

Spill comes from Middle English spillen ‘to demolish, liquidate, or ruin’, from Old English spillan ‘to kill, destroy, waste’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- ‘to sunder, split, rend, tear’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pel-‘to sunder, split, rend, tear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spilþijaną‘to spoil, kill, murder’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*spilþijan‘to spoil, ruin’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150spillan‘to kill, destroy, waste’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spillen‘to demolish, liquidate, or ruin’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1387–1400spill

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pel-‘to sunder, split, rend, tear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spilþijaną‘to spoil, kill, murder’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*spilþijan‘to spoil, ruin’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150spillan‘to kill, destroy, waste’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spillen‘to demolish, liquidate, or ruin’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1387–1400spill

Earliest quotation: 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Man of Lawes Tale: “That thou wilt suffer innocence to spill.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- ‘to sunder, split, rend, tear’

spell, spoil, spool, 11 more

Today it means

verb To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour.

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

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

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