span

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spæn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English spanne, inherited from Old English span (“distance between the thumb and little finger of an extended hand”), spann,^[2][3][4] reinforced from about 1300 by Old French espan, of Germanic origin.^[5][6] It is cognate with Dutch spanne, Old High German spanna (German Spanne) and Old Norse spǫnn,^[2][6] and probably related to the verb Old English spannan, to join, fasten, from Proto-Germanic *spannan,^[2][3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *(s)pen- (“to draw, stretch, spin”).^[3] The Germanic word was also borrowed into Medieval Latin as spannus.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger of an outstretched hand, as a measure of length, roughly nine inches: about 900, in Alfred's translation of Bede.^[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

As a measure of volume, what two cupped hands can hold, it is from the early 14th century.^[3] The figurative sense, any short space, especially of time, is by the 1590s,^[3] as in mortal span,^[5][7] and the full extent over which something stretches by the 1630s.^[3] The space between the supports of an arch or bridge is from 1725,^[3] and the maximum lateral dimension of an aircraft by 1909.^[3] The verb, Old English spannan, to join, clasp, also to stretch out,^[3][8] meant to measure with the hand in the 1550s,^[3] to stretch across or extend over by the 1630s,^[3] and to encircle with the hands by 1781.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 900 – a measure of the hand.^[7]
• 1550s – to measure with the hand (verb).^[3]
• 1590s – a short space of time.^[3]
• 1630s – full extent; to extend across.^[3]
• 1725 – the span of an arch.^[3]
• 1909 – the span of an aircraft.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The distance or space between two points or ends, as of a bridge or arch.
2. A part of a bridge between two supports.
3. The whole duration or extent of something: the span of his life.
4. The distance between the wingtips of an aircraft.
5. The distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger of a spread hand, formerly a unit of about nine inches.

Verb

1. To extend across in space or time.
2. To measure with, or as with, the spread hand.

Word family

• inspan
• outspan
• spanner
• timespan
• wingspan
• spanworm
• attention span

Related words

• spin
• spinner

Usage notes

A span of oxen or mules, a matched pair driven together, is a separate word, from Dutch span (spannen, to yoke), first recorded in American English in 1769 and also used in South Africa.^[2][3][9] Span is also an old past tense of spin.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin