spearca

Forms

spearca m (weak; genitive singular spearcan, nominative plural spearcan)^[1] Also spærca in a glossary.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sparkō (“spark”), from Proto-Germanic *sprakô.^[1] Holthausen and Etymonline give only Middle Low German sparke and Middle Dutch spranke as cognates; the word is not found in the other Germanic languages.^[3][4] Holthausen compares Latvian spirgsti (“glowing coals”).^[3]

Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain and suggests *sparkaz (“lively”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)per- (“to strew, scatter”).^[1] Köbler names the same root, Pokorny's *sper- “to strew, sprinkle, spray”, or else *per- (“to spray, snort”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is figurative, in the Pastoral Care of 890×897: se spearca ðara godra weorca ðe her tuinclað beforan mannum “the spark of the good works that twinkles here before men”.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller divide the uses into literal and figurative sparks.^[9] The literal ones are sparks of a fire, as in the Old English Bede, where þa spearcan up flugon in þæs huses hrof “the sparks flew up into the roof of the house”, and a spark struck in a medical recipe.^[10][8][9] The figurative ones are a spark of good works, of truth or of wisdom, and in Christ and Satan words fly out spearcum “in sparks”, like poison.^[9] In the glosses it renders Latin “scintilla”.^[9][5]

As Middle English sparke it is the source of English spark;^[4] Etymonline notes that the figurative use for a small trace was already Old English.^[4]

Timeline

• 890×897 – se spearca ðara godra weorca in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[7][8]
• s. x med. – of ðæm lytlan spearcan þe þu mid ðære tyndran gefenge “from the little spark that you have caught with the tinder” in the Old English Boethius.^[11][8]
• s. x med. – a spark struck in Bald's Leechbook.^[12][9]
• s. x²–xi¹ – word spearcum fleah in Christ and Satan in the Junius manuscript.^[13][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. a spark of fire.^[9][5]
2. (figurative) a spark, a small trace (of truth, wisdom, good works).^[9]

Word family

• fȳrspearca

Descendants

• Middle English sparke (→ English spark; Scots spark; Scots sperk)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 898
3. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 308
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. spearca
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
8. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 899
10. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 531
11. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 296
12. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 412
13. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 513