Etymology
This word apparently represents a PGmc
*sprant-jan-, a causative formation on
*sprent- as in the str. v.OIcel
spretta (<
*sprenta) ‘to spurt out; start, spring; sprout, grow’ and perh. (see Seebold) MHG
sprinzen ‘to break forth, to shine’. An OE
gesprintan ‘to emit, utter’ is sometimes cited as cognate with the latter, but the only evidence for such a v. comes in a late Nhb. gloss at
JnComGl (Li) 5, viz. <gisprunt> glossing Lat.
eructauit ‘cast forth, emitted, uttered’; this may be a genuine (if very isolated) witness to an OE
*sprintan, but it is conceivably a borrowing from the ON str. v. (or an error). However, there is no sign of the (originally causative)
sprent <
*sprant-jan- until (late N) ME, and thus the form might better be derived from the attested ON wk. v. represented by OIcel
spretta (<
*sprenta <
*sprantjan-) ‘to make spring up, unloose; rip up’ (with which cp. further OHG
sprenzen ‘to support’?).
PGmc Ancestor
*sprant-jan-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
spretta ‘to make spring up, unloose; rip up’
(ONP spretta (2) (vb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far spretta, Icel spretta, Norw spretta, Dan sprætte, Sw sprätta
OE Cognate
?*sprintan
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
BB2c