Etymograph

English

spell

Spell comes from Old English spell ‘news, story’, from Proto-Germanic *spellą ‘speech, account, tale’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- ‘to tell’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pel-1‘to tell’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spellą1‘speech’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*spell2reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150spell1‘news’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spell1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1591spell1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English spell
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English spell
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “Vnchaine your spirits now with spelling Charmes,”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pel-Wiktionary, English spell‘to tell’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spelląWiktionary, English spell‘speech’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*spellWiktionary, Old English spellreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150spellWiktionary, English spell‘news’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spellWiktionary, English spell
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1591spellWiktionary, English spell. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “Vnchaine your spirits now with spelling Charmes,”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with spell, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- ‘to tell’

  • spoil ← spoilen ← espoillier ← spoliāre ← spolium
  • spill ← spillen ← spillan ← *spilþijan ← *spilþijaną
  • spool ← spole ← spole ← spoele ← *spōla

11 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of spell

  1. Frankishc. 250–700*spelōnreconstructed
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400espeler
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spellen‘to read out letter by letter’
  4. Englishtodayspell

Related with etymology 1.

Another origin of spell

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150spala‘substitute’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150spelian‘to represent, take or stand in the place of another, act as a representative of another’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spelen‘to spare’
  4. Englishtodayspell

Another origin of spell

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spel‘a thin piece of wood’
  2. Englishtodayspell

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Today it means

noun Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “spell”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English spell. 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)pel- / spell