The story
- Old English · inherited fromætspringan“to rush forth, spurt out, spring out”
- Middle English · inherited fromatspringen
- English todayatspring
From Middle English atspringen, ætspringen, from Old English ætspringan (“to rush forth, spurt out, spring out”), equivalent to at- + spring. Compare Dutch ontspringen (“to spring, well, outflow”), German entspringen (“to spring from, escape, arise”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.