spelta

Forms

spelta f (genitive speltae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Frankish *spelta, from Proto-Germanic *spiltaz, as Wiktionary has it.^[1] Walde and DynaMorph also take it from Germanic,^[2][3] comparing Old English spelt and Old High German spelza;^[2] Walde adds that Old High German spelta is itself partly a borrowing back from Late Latin.^[2] Pokorny puts the Germanic word under the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)p(h)el- (“to split”),^[4] which Etymonline relates to the splitting of the husks in threshing.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is the Edict of Diocletian of 301 AD,^[2][3] where it names spelt, a kind of wheat.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word is rare and late in antiquity:^[7] Jerome uses it in his commentary on Ezekiel,^[7][6] and the poem on weights and measures has the plural for grains of spelt.^[7][6] Medieval Latin kept it for spelt,^[8][9] and British writers used it for the grain and for bread made of it.^[10] It lives on in the Romance languages, as Italian and Spanish spelta and espelta and French épeautre.^[1]

Timeline

• 301 – The Edict of Diocletian lists spelt.^[2][3]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it in his commentary on Ezekiel.^[7][11]
• 1392 – An English account records spelt as provender for horses.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. spelt, a kind of wheat (Triticum spelta).^[7][6][1]
2. (plural) Grains of spelt.^[7][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Bread or a loaf made of spelt.^[10]

Related words

• English spelt

Usage notes

Köbler lists a separate medieval word spelta, “copper ore”, of unclear origin.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Walde, Alois (1906), Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ a b c Gardani, Francesco; Pellegrini, Matteo et al. (2026), DynaMorphPro: loanwords, conversions and class shifts in Latin and Old Italian, CIRCSE / LiLa, github.com/CIRCSE/DynaMorphPro (CC BY-SA 4.0)
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
10. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de