spray

English has two words spelled spray: liquid in fine drops, related to Middle Dutch sprayen, to sprinkle, and a small branch of leaves or flowers, of obscure origin.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spɹeɪ/^[4]

spray¹ fine drops of liquid

Etymology

The noun is from the obsolete verb spray, to sprinkle (1527), borrowed from Middle Dutch sprayen (“to sprinkle”), spraeien,^[1][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *sprēwjaną, source also of German sprühen (“to sparkle, drizzle”),^[2][1] perhaps from PIE Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to strew”), also the root of Greek σπείρω (speírein, “to sow, scatter”).^[1][2] Hoad and SOED call its immediate source unknown.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Water blown in droplets by the wind or waves: before 1621, in Sandys's translation of Ovid;^[1] the 1620s in Etymonline.^[2] The verb, to sprinkle, is from 1527.^[1][5]

Semantic evolution

Any liquid dispersed in fine particles is by 1750,^[2] and a jet of vapour from the 19th century.^[3] The verb, to scatter in a spray, is revived in 1829, in Carlyle.^[1] An aerosol or atomizer and its contents is a 20th-century sense.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 1527 – to sprinkle (verb).^[1]
• before 1621 – sea spray.^[1]
• 1750 – any fine liquid.^[2]
• 1829 – to scatter as spray.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Liquid blown or falling through the air in fine drops: sea spray.
2. A liquid sprayed from a container, or the container itself; an aerosol.

Verb

1. To scatter liquid in fine drops.
2. To cover with a spray: spray the crops.
3. To scatter or fire in all directions: spray bullets.

Word family

• sprayer
• spray gun
• spray paint

spray² small branch of flowers

Etymology

It is Middle English sprai, of obscure origin,^[2][3][6] perhaps related to late Old English *spræg, spræc, a shoot or twig, found in place-names (see sprig), with which Etymonline compares Danish sprag.^[2][1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Small twigs of trees collectively: 1297 in the OED, about 1250 in Barnhart, earlier in the place-name Spray (1179).^[9][1]

Semantic evolution

A single slender shoot or twig is from 1387.^[9] A graceful shoot or small branch with leaves and flowers, as used for decoration, is from 1862,^[1][9] and a brooch made to imitate a spray of flowers from 1803.^[9]

Timeline

• 1179 – Spray, as a place-name.^[1]
• 1297 – twigs collectively.^[9]
• 1387 – a single shoot.^[9]
• 1862 – a decorative spray of flowers.^[1][9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small branch or stem with leaves, flowers or berries.
2. An arrangement of cut flowers, or a brooch shaped like one.

Related words

• sprig
• sprout
• spore
• sperm

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press