Etymology

It is usual to adduce at least semantic input from ON (thus ODEE, TGD, McGee 350, Nagano 1966: 59–60, OED, MED, de Vries) because the WGmc reflexes of this word, viz. OE spōn, OFris spōn, spān, MLG spān, spōn, OHG spān, MDu spaen, are attested almost entirely in what is assumed to have been the original sense of PGmc *spēnuz, i.e. ‘chip, shaving (of wood)’, as are some of the Scandinavian cognates (Far. spónur, Sw spån, Da spaan).  But OIcel spánn (occasionally spón-), Icel spónn, and Norw spon, spån also have the subsidiary meaning ‘spoon’ (i.e. a chip of wood so used), a sense shared otherwise only with ME spon (PDE spoon) and MLG spōn ‘wooden spatula’ (see OED). An independent native extension of the meaning of OE spōn is also a possibility (thus Bj-L. and (apparently) GDS).

PGmc Ancestor

*spēnuz

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

spánn 'chip, shaving, spoon'
(ONP spánn (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far spónur, Icel spónn, Norw spon, spån, Dan spaan, Sw spån

OE Cognate

spōn 'sliver, chip, shaving'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CC3a

Attestation

Widely attested in this sense in ME from the early 14c. 

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 886

Bibliography

MED spōn (n.) , OED spoon (n.) , HTOED , Dance sponez, ODEE spoon (1), de Vries spánn, Mag. spónn, Bj-L. spon, Orel *spēnuz ~ *spōnuz, AEW spōn