Etymograph

English

splint

Splint comes from Middle English splint.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500splint
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1819splint

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500splint
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1819splint

Earliest quotation: 1819, Walter Scott: “The fore-part of his thighs, where the folds of…”

The story

All ultimately from Proto-Germanic *splintǭ, *splintō (‘piece of wood, splinter’), from Proto-Germanic *splint-, *splind- (‘to split’), from a nasalized form of *splītaną (‘to split’), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pley- (‘to split, splice’).

Every English word from Middle English splint

Today it means

noun A narrow strip of wood split or peeled from a larger piece.

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

Etymograph / Middle English splint / splint

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