Etymograph

English

espada

Espada comes from Spanish espada ‘sword’, from Ancient Greek σπάθη ‘a flat wooden blade used by ancient weavers in…’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ‘to do’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁-1‘to do’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sph₂-dʰh₁-éh₂1uncertain
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*spátʰā1‘blade’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσπάθη1spáthē‘a flat wooden blade used by ancient weavers in their upright loom for striking the woof…’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspatha1
  6. Old Spanishc. 950–1500espada1‘sword (a long bladed weapon with a grip and typically a pommel and crossguard’
  7. Spanishc. 1500–presentespada2‘sword’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1891espada2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Spanish espada
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English espada
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1891, The Living Age: “That first day taught me I could be an…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁-Wiktionary, Spanish espada‘to do’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sph₂-dʰh₁-éh₂Wiktionary, Spanish espadauncertain
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*spátʰāWiktionary, Spanish espada‘blade’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσπάθηWiktionary, Spanish espadaspáthē‘a flat wooden blade used by ancient weavers in their upright loom for striking the woof…’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspathaWiktionary, Spanish espada
  6. Old Spanishc. 950–1500espadaWiktionary, Spanish espada‘sword (a long bladed weapon with a grip and typically a pommel and crossguard’
  7. Spanishc. 1500–presentespadaWiktionary, English espada‘sword’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1891espadaWiktionary, English espada. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1891, The Living Age: “That first day taught me I could be an…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ‘to do’

do, fact, deal, hot, fair, defense, fan, benefit, fashion, feature, mid, theme, defence, custom, ethnic, sufficient, treasury, treasure, ethical, feast, synthetic, theology, aesthetic, doom, thesis, tick, defendant, deed, dis, atheist, ethic, auditorium, auditor, atheism, demi, deem, thematic, ethos, forfeit, feral, 125 more

through Latin spatha

spade, spatula, spall, 16 more

Today it means

noun A matador.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “espada”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Spanish espada. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- / espada

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