Etymograph

English

splay

Splay comes from Middle English splaien ‘to display’, from Medieval Latin displico ‘to unfold’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō‘to fold, roll up’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500displicoas displicō‘to unfold’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400despleier
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500displayenas displaien, aphetic form‘to display’
  6. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500splaien‘to display’
  7. Englishearliest quotation a. 1530splay

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō‘to fold, roll up’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500displicoas displicō‘to unfold’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400despleier
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500displayenas displaien, aphetic form‘to display’
  6. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500splaien‘to display’
  7. Englishearliest quotation a. 1530splay

Earliest quotation: a. 1530, John Skelton, Poems against Garnesche: “Ye grounde yow vpon Godfrey, that grysly gargons face,…”.

The story

The verb is derived from Middle English splaien, splayen (‘to display; to spread out, unfurl (a flag, etc.); (cooking) to cut open (a fish) lengthwise and lay it open; (figurative) to appear; to spread’), an aphetic form of Middle English displaien, displayen (‘to display’): see display.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’

complex, fiasco, replication, flax, flack, plexus, flagon, 34 more

through Latin plicō ‘to fold, roll up’

apply, employment, reply, explicit, employ, exploitation, exploit, imply, deploy, replica, implicit, complication, complicate, accomplice, inexplicable, ploy, complicity, ply, implicate, supple, pliable, supplication, triplicate, explication, pliant, 22 more

Another origin of splay

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)peh₂-‘to draw, violently set in motion’root as named · steps between not traced
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400espeier
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spayen‘to remove the ovaries of, spay’
  4. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500splaien
  5. Englishtodaysplay

Today it means

verb To spread, spread apart, or spread out (something); to expand.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- / splay

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