英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

spoon (n.)[spoon 词源字典]: Old English spon "chip, sliver, shaving, splinter of wood," from Proto-Germanic *spe-nu- (cognates: Old Norse spann, sponn "chip, splinter," Swedish spån "a wooden spoon," Old Frisian spon, Middle Dutch spaen, Dutch spaan, Old High German span, German Span "chip, splinter"), from PIE *spe- (2) "long, flat piece of wood" (cognates: Greek spathe "spade," also possibly Greek sphen "wedge").

As the word for a type of eating utensil, c. 1300 in English (in Old English such a thing might be a metesticca), in this sense supposed to be from Old Norse sponn, which meant "spoon" as well as "chip, tile." The "eating utensil" sense is specific to Middle English and Scandinavian, though Middle Low German spon also meant "wooden spatula." To be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth is from at least 1719 (Goldsmith, 1765, has: "one man is born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and another with a wooden ladle").[spoon etymology, spoon origin, 英语词源]
spoon (v.): 1715, "to dish out with a spoon," from spoon (n.). The meaning "court, flirt sentimentally" is first recorded 1831, a back-formation from spoony (adj.) "soft, silly, weak-minded, foolishly sentimental." Related: Spooned; spooning.
spoon-bread (n.): 1932, from spoon (n.) + bread (n.).
spoon-feed (v.): "to feed (someone) with a spoon," 1610s, from spoon (n.) + feed (v.). Figurative sense is attested by 1864. Related: Spoon-fed.
spoonbill (n.): 1670s, from spoon (n.) + bill (n.2); after Dutch lepelaar (from lepel "spoon").
spoonerism (n.): 1900, but according to OED in use at Oxford as early as 1885, involuntary transposition of sounds in two or more words (such as "shoving leopard" for "loving shepherd," "half-warmed fish" for "half-formed wish," "beery work speaking to empty wenches," etc.), in reference to the Rev. William A. Spooner (1844-1930), warden of New College, Oxford, who was noted for such disfigures of speech. A different thing from malapropism.
spoonful (n.): late 13c., from spoon (n.) + -ful.
spoony (adj.): 1812, "soft, silly, weak-minded;" by 1836 as "foolishly sentimental," with -y (2) + spoon (n.) in a slang sense "silly person, simpleton" (1799), a figurative use of the eating utensil word, perhaps based on the notion of shallowness. Related: Spoonily; spooniness.
spoor (n.): "track, trace," 1823, used originally by travelers in South Africa, from Afrikaans spoor, from Dutch spoor, from Middle Dutch spor, cognate with Old English spor "footprint, track, trace," from Proto-Germanic *spur-am, from PIE *spere- "ankle" (see spurn).
sporadic (adj.): 1680s, from Medieval Latin sporadicus "scattered," from Greek sporadikos "scattered," from sporas (genitive sporados) "scattered, dispersed," from spora "a sowing" (see spore). Originally a medical term, "occurring in scattered instances;" the meaning "happening at intervals" is first recorded 1847. Related: Sporadical (1650s); sporadically.
sporangium (n.): "a case containing spores," 1821, Modern Latin (plural sporangia), from Greek spora "spore" (see spore) + angeion "vessel" (see angio-).
spore (n.): "reproductive body in flowerless plants corresponding to the seeds of flowering ones," 1836, from Modern Latin spora, from Greek spora "a seed, a sowing, seed-time," related to sporas "scattered, dispersed," sporos "a sowing," and speirein "to sow, scatter," from PIE *spor-, variant of root *sper- (4) "to strew" (see sprout (v.)).
spork (n.): 1909, from spoon (n.) + fork (n.).
sporo-: before vowels spor-, word-forming element meaning "spore," from comb. form of Greek spora "a seed, a sowing," related to sporas "scattered, dispersed," sporos "sowing," and speirein "to sow," from PIE *spor-, variant of root *sper- (4) "to strew" (see sprout (v.)).
sporophyte (n.): from sporo- + -phyte.
sporran (n.): furred leather pouch, 1818, from Gaelic sporan, Irish sparan "purse," of uncertain origin. Familiarized by Walter Scott (first attested English use is in "Rob Roy").
sport (v.): c. 1400, "to take pleasure, to amuse oneself," from Old French desporter, deporter "to divert, amuse, please, play" (see disport). Restricted sense of "amuse oneself by active exercise in open air or taking part in some game" is from late 15c. Meaning "to wear" is from 1778. Related: Sported; sporting.
sport (n.): early 15c., "pleasant pastime," shortening of disport "activity that offers amusement or relaxation; entertainment, fun" (c. 1300), also "a pastime or game; flirtation; pleasure taken in such activity" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French disport, Old French desport, deport "pleasure, enjoyment, delight; solace, consolation; favor, privilege," related to desporter, deporter "to divert, amuse, please, play" (see sport (v.)).

Original sense preserved in phrases such as in sport "in jest" (mid-15c.). Meaning "game involving physical exercise" first recorded 1520s. Sense of "stylish man" is from 1861, American English, probably because they lived by gambling and betting on races. Meaning "good fellow" is attested from 1881 (as in be a sport, 1913). Sport as a familiar form of address to a man is from 1935, Australian English. The sport of kings was originally (1660s) war-making. Other, lost senses of Middle English disport were "consolation, solace; a source of comfort."
sporting (adj.): c. 1600, "playful;" 1799 as "characterized by conduct constant with that of a sportsman" (as in sporting chance, 1897), present participle adjective from sport (v.).
sportive (adj.): 1580s, "frolicsome," from sport (n.) + -ive. Related: Sportively; sportiveness. Earlier was sportful (c. 1400).