English
spurious
Spurious comes from Late Latin spurius ‘illegitimate, bastardly’.
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEspurius‘illegitimate, bastardly’
- Englishearliest quotation 1671spurious
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEspurius‘illegitimate, bastardly’
- Englishearliest quotation 1671spurious
Earliest quotation: 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, […].: “[…] who alſo in her prime of love, Spouſal…”
The story
Borrowed from Late Latin spurius (‘illegitimate, bastardly’), possibly related to sperno or from Etruscan.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sper- ‘to scatter’
spare, spiral, sperm, diaspora, sparkle, spore, sprout, spiro, 22 more
Today it means
adj False, not authentic, not genuine.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Late Latin spurius / spurious