Etymograph

English

spread

Spread comes from Old English sprǣdan ‘to spread’, from Proto-Germanic *spraidijaną, causative of *sprīþaną ‘to break up, scatter’, of uncertain origin.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sprīþaną‘to break up, become scattered’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spraidijaną‘to spread’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*spraidijanreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sprǣdan‘to spread, expand’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spreden‘to spread’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1627spread

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sprīþaną‘to break up, become scattered’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spraidijaną‘to spread’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*spraidijanreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sprǣdan‘to spread, expand’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spreden‘to spread’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1627spread

Earliest quotation: 1627, (please specify the page, or |century=I to X): “No flower hath that kind of spread that the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)per- ‘to strew, sow, sprinkle’

fry, spray, spurt, 3 more

Today it means

verb To stretch out, open out (a material etc.) so that it more fully covers a given area of space.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *sprīþaną / spread

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