spruce

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spɹuːs/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It comes from Spruce, an alteration of Middle English Pruce “Prussia”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} borrowed from Anglo-Norman Pruz, from Medieval Latin Prussia.^[2][3][6] The tree was so called because it grew widely in Prussia and its timber came from there;^[3][6] spruce was a general term for goods brought from the Baltic by Hanseatic merchants.^[4] The adjective “neat, smart” probably comes from spruce leather, a fashionable leather imported from Prussia and used for jerkins.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, “made of spruce (Prussian) wood” (1412);^[3] the country of Prussia itself was called Spruce from 1378.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Goods from Prussia, such as boards, chests, beer and leather, were called spruce,^[7][4] and the tree name is recorded as a noun from 1670.^[3][5] Because Prussia was associated in Tudor England with fashionable clothes, the adjective came to mean “brisk, smart” (1589) and then “neat, trim” (1599),^[3][7][4] with a verb “to make spruce” from 1594,^[7][3][5] later usually with up (1676).^[7]

Timeline

• 1378 – Spruce, Prussia.^[7][3]
• 1412 – adjective, made of spruce wood.^[3]
• 1466 – spruce leather jerkins (Barnhart).^[3]
• 1589 – adjective, brisk, smart, lively.^[7][3]
• 1594 – verb, to make spruce.^[7][3][5]
• 1599 – adjective, neat, trim.^[7][3][5]
• 1670 – the tree.^[3][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Any of various evergreen coniferous trees of the genus Picea, with short needle-like leaves, hanging cones and soft wood used for paper pulp.
2. Any of various similar trees, such as the Douglas fir.
3. The wood of any of these trees.

Adjective

1. Neat, trim and smart in appearance; dapper.

Verb

1. To make neat and smart, often with up.
2. To make oneself neat and smart, often with up.

Word family

• sprucely
• spruceness
• spruce beer

Related words

• Prussian
• fir
• pine

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press