Etymograph

English

spire

Spire comes from Proto-Germanic *spīrō ‘peak’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *spey- ‘long, thin, sharp’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*spey-‘long, thin, sharp’root as named
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spīrō‘peak’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150spīr
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spire
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*spey-‘long, thin, sharp’root as named
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spīrō‘peak’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150spīr
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spire
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto V: “In gentle Ladies breste and bounteous race / Of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *spey- ‘long, thin, sharp’

spike, spine, spinal, spinach, cusp, asp, buckthorn, spina, spigot, spica, aspic, 28 more

through Old English spīr

spear

Today it means

noun The stalk or stem of a plant.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *spey- / spire

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