Etymograph

English

spin

Spin comes from Middle English spinnen, from Old English spinnan, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną, from PIE *(s)penh₁- ‘to stretch, spin’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)penh₁-‘to twist’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spinnaną‘to spin’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150spinnan‘to spin’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spinnen‘to spin or convert fibre into yarn’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1599spin

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)penh₁-‘to twist’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spinnaną‘to spin’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150spinnan‘to spin’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spinnen‘to spin or convert fibre into yarn’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1599spin

Earliest quotation: 1599, William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fift: “Mount them, and make inciſion in their Hides, /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- ‘to twist’

panic, bannock, 11 more

through Proto-Germanic *spinnaną ‘to spin’

span, spider, 4 more

Today it means

verb To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- / spin

Shirt and support for this word