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spike

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Spike, a large nail or sharp point, is probably from Scandinavian or Dutch; spike, an ear of grain, is from Latin spīca.[1][2][3][4]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /spaɪk/[5]

spike1 sharp point

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from a Scandinavian source: compare borrowed from Old Norse spík (“splinter”), spíkr, nail, and Middle Swedish spijk, nail, from *spīkaz;[1][2] Merriam-Webster and the NODE prefer Middle Dutch spike or Middle Low German spīker, and the NODE relates it to spoke.[4][6][3] Older sources trace it to a root meaning “sharp point”, also in Latin spīca and spīna, but de Vaan connects only the Germanic, Latin and perhaps Lithuanian words.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large, strong nail: 1345–46, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to fasten with spikes, is from the 1620s, and to furnish with spikes from the 1680s.[2][4] To spike a cannon, by driving a spike into the touch-hole, gave the figurative spike someone's guns, to thwart their plans (1823).[2][7] The journalism sense, to kill a story before publication (1908), comes from the upright spindle on which editors filed rejected copy.[2] To lace a drink with alcohol is slang by 1889,[2] and to rise sharply, as on a graph, is from 1958.[2] A sharp peak in voltage or a graph is a spike in physics.[8]

Timeline

  • 1345–46 – a large nail.[1]
  • 1620s – to spike (verb).[2]
  • 1823 – spike someone's guns.[2]
  • 1889 – to spike a drink.[2]
  • 1908 – to spike a story.[2]
  • 1958 – to rise sharply.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A long, sharp-pointed piece of metal or wood; a heavy nail.
  2. One of the sharp metal points on the sole of a running shoe.
  3. A sharp rise or peak, as on a graph.

Verb

  1. To pierce or fasten with a spike.
  2. To add alcohol or a drug to a drink secretly.
  3. To put a stop to; to block: to spike a story.
  4. To rise sharply.

Word family

  • spiky
  • spiked

spike2 ear of grain

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin spīca (“ear of grain”),[1][2][4] cognate with Dutch spie, peg, and possibly related to Latin spīna, thorn (see spine).[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An ear of grain: probably before 1300 in Kyng Alisaunder,[1] about 1300 in Etymonline,[2] 1393 in the OED.[9]

Semantic evolution

Hoad notes the sense was rare before the 17th century.[3] In botany, a spike is a cluster of stalkless flowers along an unbranched stem, from 1578.[9][2] The star Spica, the Virgin's spike, translates Latin spīca Virginis (1559).[9]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – an ear of grain.[1]
  • 1559 – the Virgin's spike (star).[9]
  • 1578 – a flower spike.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An ear of grain, as of wheat.
  2. (botany) A long cluster of stalkless flowers along a single stem.

Word family

  • spikelet
  • spikenard

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press