Etymograph

English

spoil

Spoil comes from Old French espoillier ‘to pillage’, from Latin spolium ‘booty, prey, spoil’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- ‘to say aloud, recite’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pel-‘to say aloud, recite’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspolium‘booty, prey, spoil’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEspoliāre
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400espoillier‘to pillage’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spoilen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1526spoil

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pel-‘to say aloud, recite’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspolium‘booty, prey, spoil’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEspoliāre
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400espoillier‘to pillage’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spoilen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1526spoil

Earliest quotation: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “All that herde hym wer amased and sayde: ys…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- ‘to say aloud, recite’

spell, spill, spool, 11 more

Today it means

verb To strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of arms or armour.

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

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

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