Etymology

Spenne occurs three times in Gaw and is often identified as a single word (esp. TGD, MED and differently, Elliott) but some treat Gaw 1074 (‘And cum to þat merk at mydmorn, to make quat yow likez / in spenne’) separately as particularly troublesome (OED gives it an entry of its own (s.v. spen n.) and labels it 'obscure'). It is often compared to the phrase ‘in spene’ at WA 4162 (see esp. TG 1074n, TGD 1074n, TPD 4291n), whose meaning is similarly obscure. Three distinct sources have been suggested and the most likely is the first (one of a related group of ON words): (1a) Madden groups spenne here in a single entry in his glossary with the spenne of spenne-fote, and Morris (glossary and 1074n) suggests a meaning 'space, interval', and is in turn followed by Kullnick, who derives from the ON v. represented by OIcel spenna 'to span, clasp'. This v., probably < a causative PGmc *spannjan- formed on the str. v. *spannan-, is normally regarded as the etymon of spene (v.) ‘to be fastened, cling’; OE had the related str. v. spannan ‘to join, link, fasten, attach’, but there is no sign of a wk. derivative until (late, N) ME. There is, however, no trace of a corresponding n. in ON meaning ‘space, interval’, nor are there any other instances of such a n. in English. (b) Sundén (1920: 150–2; followed by McGee 348–9) thus prefers an etymon in the OWN word represented by OIcel spenna ‘agitation, struggle’ (a different derivative on the same PGmc root *spann- of the str. v. *spannan- discussed above), and interprets spenne at Gaw 1074 as 'struggle, strife'. Cognates are attested also in WGmc, cp. MLG spen ‘discord, rift, dispute’, MHG spenne, and thus an unrecorded OE equivalent in this sense is also feasible. (c) Alternatively, as TGD (1074n) and MED (followed by most subsequent editions) explain all three instances, spenne could be derived from the ON n. represented by OIcel spenni 'clasp' (another derivative on the *span(n)- root), or an unattested OE cognate, which is regarded by EPNE as the most plausible source of the spen- in place-names in Dur., Lan. and Yks.; here Smith suggests a sense like ‘fence, hurdle’ and thence ‘a piece of land enclosed by a fence’. (2) TG (1074n) instead connect Gaw 1074 spenne with OED’s spine n.2 in its sense (1), ‘greensward, sward; turf’ (linking it to WA 4162 spene, glossed literally as 'ground space of turf'). OED derive this spine (probably) from OE spind ‘fat’ (cp. WFris spyn, OS spind, MDu spint, OHG spint), of obscure ulterior etymology. But it is first attested in English only in 1786, and the dial variants spend, spen cited by OED are from the wrong part of England (Dev., Cor.) to be of much help as comparanda for Gaw. (3) Elliott derives all three instances of Gaw spenne from AN/early Fr espine ‘thorn, thorn-bush’ (see further spenne (2) etymological discussion (2b)).

PGmc Ancestor

(1) *span(n)-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

(1a) spenna ‘to span, clasp’; (1b) spenna ‘agitation, struggle’; (1c) spenni ‘clasp’
(ONP (1a) spenna (2) (vb.); (1b) spenna (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

(1a) Far spenna, Icel spenna, Norw spenna, Dan spænde, Sw spänna; (1b) Icel spenna; (1c) Far spenni, Icel spenni, Norw spenne, Sw spänne

OE Cognate

(1) cp. spannan ‘to join, link, fasten, attach’

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

D2

Attestation

(1) (a) The ME v. spennen is cited by MED from the Gaw MS and a few other N (mostly alliterative) texts; but there is no corresponding n. meaning ‘space, interval’ elsewhere in ME. (b) Similarly, this would be the only known instance of a ME n. spen(ne) meaning ‘agitation, struggle’ (unless one accepts this also as the sense of spene at WA 4162, as suggested by McGee 349, who offers ‘battlefield’ for the meaning in that context).  (c) In the sense ‘?a piece of land enclosed by a fence’, MED cites two occurrences from the Lan. text (a1265) Deed Norris in LCRS 93 163, beside Gaw 1074 and WA 4162. It also gives the word meaning ‘?A fence; ?a hedge used to enclose land’ from Gaw 1709, 1896 (see spenne (2)), and without specific denotation from personal names in three 14c. N documents. (2) OED’s spine ‘greensward, sward; turf’ is first attested in 1786; for SW dial occurrences (Wil., Dor., Som.) see also EDD. (3) MED’s earliest citation of spīn(e) in the sense ‘thorn, thorn bush’ (etc.) is a1450(c1433) Lydg. St.Edm.(Hrl 2278). There are no compatible forms given in EPNE.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 1074

Bibliography

MED spenne (n.) , OED spen (n.) , Dance spenne (1); (1a) MED spennen (v.) , OED spen (v.) , de Vries spenna (2), Mag. spenna (2), Bj-L spenne (1), Seebold spann-a-, Orel *spannjanan; (1b) Fritzner spenna, de Vries spenna (1), Mag. spenna (2); (1c) CV spenni, Fritzner spenni, de Vries spenni, Mag. spenni, Seebold spann-a-, EPNE *spenn(e); (2) OED spine (n.2) , de Vries/Toll spint, AEW spind, EDD spine (sb. and v.) sense (3); (3) MED spīn(e (n.1) , OED spine (n.1) .