Etymograph

English

spattle

Spattle comes from Late Latin spatula ‘a broad, flat piece’, and goes back to Proto-Hellenic *spátʰā ‘blade’.

  1. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*spátʰā1‘blade’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσπάθη1spáthē‘any broad blade, of wood or metal’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspatha2‘broad, flat tool’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEspatula3‘a broad, flat piece’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400spatule3
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spatyll3
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1815spattle3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin spatha
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin spatula
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English spattle
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1815, Thomas BURFORD, The Friendly Instructor: “Ice Creams. Put your cream in the freezing pot,…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*spátʰāWiktionary, Latin spatha‘blade’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσπάθηWiktionary, Latin spathaspáthē‘any broad blade, of wood or metal’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspathaWiktionary, Latin spatula‘broad, flat tool’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEspatulaWiktionary, English spattle‘a broad, flat piece’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400spatuleWiktionary, English spattle
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spatyllWiktionary, English spattle
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1815spattleWiktionary, English spattle. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1815, Thomas BURFORD, The Friendly Instructor: “Ice Creams. Put your cream in the freezing pot,…”

Linked words

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

do, fact, deal, hot, fair, defense, fan, benefit, fashion, mid, feature, theme, defence, custom, ethnic, sufficient, treasury, treasure, ethical, thesis, aesthetic, defendant, feast, synthetic, theology, doom, tick, deed, dis, ethic, auditorium, auditor, atheist, demi, deem, ethos, forfeit, feral, atheism, familial, 124 more

through Latin spatha ‘broad, flat tool’

spade, espada, 15 more

through Late Latin spatula ‘a broad, flat piece’

spatula, spall, 5 more

Today it means

noun A spatula.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “spattle”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin spatha, Latin spatula. 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-Hellenic *spátʰā / spattle

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