Etymologically
Log in

Spiel

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 17:00. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

Spiel n (genitive Spiels or Spieles, plural Spiele, diminutive Spielchen n)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German spil, inherited from Old High German spil, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *spil (“dance”).[2][1][3] The word is found only in continental West Germanic: Old Saxon spil, Old Frisian spil, Middle Low German spēl, Middle Dutch spel, today Dutch spel.[2][3][4] Pfeifer and the Grimms' dictionary take the Scandinavian forms, such as Swedish spel and Danish spil, as borrowings from German, and Pfeifer counts Old English spilian (“to play”) among them,[3][5] while Kroonen lists the Old English verb as a cognate.[6] The verb spielen, spilōn, is derived from the noun.[3][2]

The starting sense seems to have been “dance” or “dancing, lively movement”; beyond that the origin is unknown.[2][3][7] Kroonen notes that Middle High German spilen in the senses “to move about lively” and “to sparkle” suggests an old iterative verb, and rejects a comparison with Latvian spīlēt (“to clamp, pinch”) as semantically remote.[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German spil is first recorded in glosses of the second quarter of the 9th century, and then in Otfrid and Notker.[8][9] It meant “game, play, jest”, “music”, “spectacle, stage play” and also “dance”, “musical instrument” and “combat game”.[4][8] The verb spilōn is older, recorded in the 8th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

Until Middle High German the word also meant “hunt” (still in Windspiel) and “dance”.[10] From the start, though, its usual sense was pastime and entertainment, the opposite of Arbeit.[7][10] In Middle High German it covered amusement, music, theatre, tournaments, gambling and board games.[11][12]

Since the 16th century im Spiel sein has meant “to be involved”;[3] ins Spiel bringen “to bring in” follows in the 18th century.[3] Spielraum (18th century) first meant the play between the bore of a gun and the ball, and then any room to move;[3] the technical sense “play, slack” of machine parts belongs here.[1] Wieland and later Nietzsche saw play as an ideal of human activity.[10]

English spiel “glib talk”, recorded in 1896, probably comes from the German verb, but perhaps also from the noun.[13] Hebrew borrowed compounds such as Glockenspiel and Singspiel.[14]

Timeline

  • 8th century – The verb spilōn is recorded.[2][3]
  • 9th century – Old High German spil appears in glosses.[8][2]
  • c. 900 – spilāri “drummer, dancer, actor”, the ancestor of Spieler, is recorded.[3]
  • 16th century – im Spiel sein “to be involved” is recorded.[3]
  • 18th century – Spielraum and ins Spiel bringen appear.[3]
  • 1896 – English spiel “glib talk” is recorded.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. play: activity done for pleasure, without a purpose: Die Katze vergaß beim Spiel die Zeit.[15][1]
  2. A game played by rules: ein Spiel für vier Personen.[15][1]
  3. A game of chance, gambling.[15]
  4. A match in sport: Das Spiel endete unentschieden.[15][1]
  5. The way a person or team plays: ein schnelles Spiel.[15]
  6. The playing of an instrument, or the performance of an actor; also a stage play.[15][16]
  7. A set of the things needed for a game, such as a pack of cards.[16]
  8. (mechanics) Play, slack: the free movement of a part.[1][16]
  9. (Switzerland) A military band.[1]
  10. (hunting) The tail of a pheasant.[4]

Word family

  • spielen
  • Spieler
  • Spielmann
  • Spielraum
  • Spielzeug
  • spielerisch
  • Schauspiel
  • Lustspiel
  • Trauerspiel
  • Glücksspiel
  • Kinderspiel
  • Windspiel
  • Festspiele
  • English spiel

Usage notes

Das Spiel verderben is to spoil the fun, die Hand mit im Spiel haben to have a hand in something, and auf dem Spiel stehen to be at stake.[3][15] The proverb Pech im Spiel, Glück in der Liebe contrasts luck at gambling with luck in love.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 867
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 8, 765
  5. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 2275
  6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 801
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 305
  10. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  12. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities
  13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  14. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  16. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org