English
spreath
Spreath comes from Scottish Gaelic sprèidh ‘cattle’, and goes back to Latin praeda ‘plunder, spoils’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraeda1‘plunder, spoils’
- Middle Irishc. 900–1200spréid1‘cattle, wealth’
- Scottish Gaelicmodernsprèidh1‘cattle’
- Englishearliest quotation 1836spreath1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English spreath
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1836, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine: “It was then as much the scene of continual…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraedaWiktionary, English spreath‘plunder, spoils’
- Middle Irishc. 900–1200spréidWiktionary, English spreath‘cattle, wealth’
- Scottish GaelicmodernsprèidhWiktionary, English spreath‘cattle’
- Englishearliest quotation 1836spreathWiktionary, English spreath. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1836, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine: “It was then as much the scene of continual…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ‘to find’
yet, guess, prison, surprise, prize, comprehensive, comprise, apprentice, comprehend, comprehension, apprehension, apprehensive, reprehensible, apprehend, reprieve, beget, impregnable, impresario, prehensile, 31 more
through Latin praeda ‘plunder, spoils’
Today it means
noun A raid in order to steal cattle.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “spreath”. 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 / Latin praeda / spreath