spraddle

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)per-“to sow, sprinkle, strew”
2. Old English · inherited fromsprǣdan“to expand, spread; to outspread, stretch forth”
3. Middle English · inherited fromspradden
4. Middle English · inherited from*spraddelen
5. English todayspraddle

Uncertain; possibly from sprad, an obsolete dialectal past participle of spread; or a blend of sprawl + straddle or spread + straddle, or perhaps from Middle English *spraddelen; a frequentative form of Middle English spradden, spraden, sprēden (“to lay flat, spread; to distribute, scatter, sow”), from Old English sprǣdan (“to expand, spread; to outspread, stretch forth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per- (“to sow, sprinkle, strew”), equivalent to spread + -le. Compare also dialectal Norwegian spradla (“to flail, squirm, thrash about”).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from c. 1625–1635 To spread apart (the legs).