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spittan

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Etymology and origin of the Old English word spittan

spittan1 to spit

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
950–1000 Lindisfarne Gospels gloss
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *spaitaną

Pronunciation

  • /ˈspit.tɑn/[1]

Forms

spittan (weak class 1; third-person singular present spitt, past singular spitte, past plural spitton)[1]

Etymology

The word for spitting is, in Kroonen's view, probably an indirect continuation of Proto-Germanic *spaitaną (“to spit”), through an iterative *spittjan-.[2] The strong verb itself survives only in Old English spǣtan (Northumbrian ⟨spātan⟩), with the noun spādl (“saliva”);[2] Kroonen compares it with *spīwaną (“to spit”), close in form and meaning.[2] Köbler likewise refers the verb to *spaitaną and to Pokorny's root Proto-Indo-European *(s)pyēw- (“to spit”).[3][4] Wiktionary calls the verb imitative.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated records are in the interlinear gospel glosses of the later tenth century.[5][6] The Lindisfarne gloss, added in the third quarter of the century, renders “conspuent eum” of Mark 10:34 as hia spittes hine “they will spit on him”.[5][7] The Rushworth gloss to Matthew, of the second half of the century, has spittadun for “expuerunt” (26:67) and spittende on him for “expuentes in eum” (27:30).[6][8][7]

Semantic evolution

Toller's Supplement moves the gospel examples that Bosworth and Toller had put under spyttan to this verb.[9][8] Clark Hall cites it from the Rushworth and Lindisfarne glosses.[10] Its Latin models are “conspuere” and “expuere”.[8][3] Bosworth and Toller cite Middle English spitten (Blod to spitten ant te speowen).[8]

Timeline

  • s. x²–x³/⁴ – hia spittes hine in the Lindisfarne gloss and spittadun, spittende in the Rushworth gloss to Matthew.[5][6][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. to spit, to spit on someone.[10][8][3]

spittan2 to dig with a spade

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *spitaz

Pronunciation

  • /ˈspit.tɑn/[1]

Forms

spittan (weak class 1; third-person singular present spitt, past singular spitte, past plural spitton)[1]

Etymology

The word for digging is from Old English spitu (“spit, skewer”).[1] Holthausen and Köbler connect it with spitel (“small spade, planting stick”), itself related to the noun for a spit.[11][12] Holthausen compares Middle Low German and Dutch spitten (“to dig”) and Middle High German spizzen (“to sharpen”).[11] The noun spitu goes back to Proto-Germanic *spitaz (“point, spit”), which Orel calls unclear.[13][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is known from one text, the Gerefa, a tract on the duties of an estate reeve: among the work of August, September and October it lists mawan, wad spittan “mowing, digging woad”.[14][7] Liebermann glosses wad spittan as cutting woad, digging with the round spade.[15]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller compare English dialect spittle “to dig over ground with a spade” and spitter, a small long-handled tool for cutting weeds, beside the noun spitel “spud”.[14] Toller's Supplement refers to the New English Dictionary's spit “to dig”.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. to dig with a spade or spud.[14][16][12]
  • spǣtan
  • spādl
  • spitel

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 465
  3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. spittan 2
  4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  5. ^ a b c 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. 291
  6. ^ a b c 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. 446
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 906
  9. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 708
  10. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 316
  11. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 311
  12. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. spittan 1
  13. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 365
  14. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 902
  15. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 200
  16. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 181
Cite this entry

“Spittan.” Etymologically, 16 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ang/spittan. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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