English
space
Space comes from Middle English space, from Anglo-Norman space, from Latin spatium, from PIE *(s)peh₂- ‘to stretch’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)peh₂-1‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspatium1‘space’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400espace1‘space’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400space1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500space1
- Englishearliest quotation 1596space1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English space
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene: “But she as Fayes are wont, in priuie place…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)peh₂-Wiktionary, English space‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspatiumWiktionary, English space‘space’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400espaceWiktionary, English space‘space’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400spaceWiktionary, English space
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spaceWiktionary, English space
- Englishearliest quotation 1596spaceWiktionary, English space. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene: “But she as Fayes are wont, in priuie place…”
The story
Partially displaced native Old English rum, whence Modern English room.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with space, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)peh₂- ‘to stretch, to pull’
- splay ← splaien ← spayen ← espeier
2 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun The distance between objects.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “space”. 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 *(s)peh₂- / space