English
spreath
Spreath comes from Scottish Gaelic sprèidh ‘cattle’, and goes back to Latin praeda ‘plunder, spoils’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraeda‘plunder, spoils’
- Middle Irishc. 900–1200spréid‘cattle, wealth’
- Scottish Gaelicmodernsprèidh‘cattle’
- Englishearliest quotation 1836spreath
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraeda‘plunder, spoils’
- Middle Irishc. 900–1200spréid‘cattle, wealth’
- Scottish Gaelicmodernsprèidh‘cattle’
- Englishearliest quotation 1836spreath
Earliest quotation: 1836, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine: “It was then as much the scene of continual…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ‘to find’
yet, guess, prison, surprise, prize, comprehensive, comprise, apprentice, comprehend, comprehension, apprehension, apprehensive, reprehensible, apprehend, reprieve, beget, impregnable, impresario, prehensile, 31 more
through Latin praeda ‘plunder, spoils’
Today it means
noun A raid in order to steal cattle.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin praeda / spreath