Etymology

There are three main theories as to the identity and meaning of the first element of this compound with OE fōt (used adverbially at Gaw 2316: ‘He sprit forth spenne-fote more þen a spere lenþe’), two of which derive it from an ON source: (1a) Morris classifies spenne- here with spenne (1) (glossed 'space, interval') and Kullnick accordingly derives it from the ON v. represented by OIcel spenna 'to span, clasp' (a wk. derivative on the root of the str. v. *spannan-, which is attested only as a str. conjugation in OE; see spenne (1)(1a) and further spene). This presumes a meaning for the compound like 'with feet apart', but there is no evidence for spenn- in this sense in either ON or elsewhere in ME. (b) Associating spenne- with ME spennen (spene) 'to be fastened' (as OED, supported by Smith (1934), MED and most editors), gives the more plausible meaning for the compound 'with the feet close together'.  Smith compares OFr constructions like ioint les piez, joinz pez, and GDS adds a comparison to similar ON words incl. OIcel spenni-töng ‘forceps’ as well as Scots spend ‘leap, bound’, and also likens Gawain’s movement to Alexander’s springing ‘plicatis pedibus’ in a Latin romance. TGD (2316n) and MED  both also notice the Du and LG compounds (discussed under (2)), and the parallel cited by MED from a1450 Sentence in YULG 60 (Yale 3.34) 54, where <spenfutte> corresponds to Lat pedibus coniunctis, is important and compelling support for the theory that spenne- had at least come to be associated with spennen 'to be fastened' by speakers of ME. (2) TG (2316n) object to (1b) on the dubious grounds that this 'would be a clumsy way of jumping' (see Smith 1934) and instead derived spenne- here from the stem of OE spinnan ‘to kick’ (OE (ge)spinnan ‘to spin; twist, writhe’, cp. Go spinnan, OIcel spinna, Fris spinne, MLG, MDu spinnen, OHG spinnan, < PGmc *spennan-). This interpretation (followed by Bowen and Jones 1944: 64–5, cited by Vant 2316n) is substantially aided by their comparison to the strikingly similar MDu spinnevoeten, MLG spinnevoten, Fris spinfoetsje ‘to move or kick with the feet convulsively’ (noted in both MED and TGD). BT (s.v. spinnan) records a very similar usage for the OE v. under sense III, ‘of convulsive movement (?), to writhe, twist’, which is supported by two citations from Ælfric, both referring to the convulsive movement of the feet during hanging; the nearest meaning recorded by MED for ME spinnen is sense (3), ‘to move frenziedly; of blood: to gush; of plants: to shoot up’ (from 14c. onwards). But if spenne- did begin as a form of OE spinnan (either directly or as a loan-translation of one of the continental WGmc words given above) its lowering of /i/ > /e/ before /n/ is rather odd. It is conceivable that an original spinne had here become spenne by association with ME spennen (as strongly indicated by the Lat equivalent of later ME <spenfutte>: see (1b)); but it is also possible that the similarity of spenne-fote with the collocations and compounds treated in this section is pure coincidence. (3) Sundén (1920: 152–3) also objects to the sense at (1b) and offers the plausible alternative (followed by McGee 349–50) of connecting spenne- in this compound with an ON v. spenna meaning ‘(to jump) as if taking a spring with a kick’, as represented by OIcel spenna (cp. further the Norw n. spenn ‘kick’, Sw fotspjärn ‘kick with the foot’). This v. is usually explained as a by-form of the ON v. represented by OIcel sperna ‘to spurn, kick with the feet’, itself a secondary e-grade development of the original str. III PGmc *spurnan- (as reflected in OIcel as sporna and in WGmc as OE (ge)spurnan (spornan) ‘to strike against, kick; spurn, reject; stumble’, OFris spurna, OS, OHG -spurnan). (4) Least plausibly, Emerson (1922: 407) suggested derivation from the ON v. represented by OIcel spenna ‘to spend, enjoy’ < an earlier Gmc *spendan-, ult. < Lat expendere; cp. OE -spendan (āspendan, forspendan), MLG, MDu spenden, OHG spendōn, spentōn. This will fit the form of spenne- well enough, but Emerson’s comparison to English spend-thrift on the one hand and hot-foot on the other, with the aim of justifying a compound meaning ‘quickly’, is unconvincing, and there are no other known or supposed derivations from this ON v. in English.

PGmc Ancestor

(1) *span(n)-; (2) *spennan-; (4) *spendan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

(1) spenna (v.) ‘to span, clasp’; (3) spenna (v.) ‘(to jump) as if taking a spring with a kick’ (cp. sperna (v.) ‘to spurn, kick with the feet’); (4) spenna ‘to spend, enjoy’
(ONP (1) spenna (2) (vb.); (3) sperna (1) (vb.); sperna (2) (vb.); (4) spenna (3))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

(1) Far spenna, Icel spenna, Norw spenna, Dan spænde, Sw spänna; (3) Far spenna, Norw spenna, Dan spænde, Sw dial spänna; (4) Icel spenna

OE Cognate

(1) cp. spannan ‘to join, link, fasten, attach’;  (2) (ge)spinnan ‘to spin; twist, writhe’;  (4) cp. OE -spendan

Phonological and morphological markers

[ON consonant cluster assimilation] (may not be applicable)

Summary category

D2

Attestation

The only other instance of what seems to be the same compound in English is that given by MED, from the Lin. text a1450 Sentence in YULG 60 (Yale 3.34) (where <spenfutte> (54) renders Lat pedibus coniunctis). (1) The ME v. spennen is cited by MED from the Gaw MS and a few other N, mostly alliterative, texts. (2) For comparable uses of OE spinnan and ME spinnen see etymological discussion.  (3) There are no other known instances of a word spen- in English meaning ‘jump’ or ‘kick’.  (4) Neither are there any other plausible derivations from ON spenna ‘to spend, enjoy’.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 2316

Bibliography

MED spenne-fōte (adv.) , OED spen-foot (adv.) , HTOED , Dance spenne-fote; (1) MED spennen (v.) , OED spen (v.) , de Vries spenna (2), Mag. spenna (2), Bj-L spenne (1), Orel *spannjanan, Seebold spann-a-; (2) MED spinnen (v.) , OED spin (v.) , Seebold spenn-a-, Orel *spennanan, Kroonen *spinnan-, AEW spinnan; (3) de Vries sperna (1), spenna, Mag. spenna (3), Torp NnEO Spenna (1), Falk-Torp spænde (II), Bj-L. spenne (2), Seebold *spur-na-, Orel *spurnanan, Kroonen *spurnan-, AEW spornan, spurnan, OED spurn (v.1) ; (4) de Vries spenna (4), Mag spenna (4), OED spend v.1 , OED spene v.