byspel

The story

1. Old English · inherited frombiġspel
2. Middle English · inherited frombyspel
3. English todaybyspel

From Middle English byspel, bispel, from Old English biġspel, bīspel (“a proverb; pattern; example”), equivalent to by- + spell (“talk, saying, discourse, story”). Compare Scots byspel (“byword; rarety; outcast”), Saterland Frisian Biespil (“example; pattern”), Middle Dutch bijspel (“proverb; parable”), German Low German Bispill (“example”), German Beispiel (“example”).