Etymology

bispel

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Today it means: A proverb or parable. Full definition →

Middle English bispel ← Old English bīspel
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited frombīspel
  2. Middle English · inherited frombispel
  3. English todaybispel

From Middle English bispel, from Old English bīspel, biġspel (“proverb, parable, example, story”), from bī- (“by”) + spel (“talk, story”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Biespil (“example”), Middle Dutch bijspel (“proverb, parable”), German Low German Bispeel (“example”), German Beispiel (“example”). More at byspel, by-, spell.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.