Etymology

spruce

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Today it means: Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir. Full definition →

Middle English Spruce
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spruce · noun, adjective, verb1

  1. Middle English · inherited fromSpruce
  2. English todayspruce

From Middle English Spruce, an alteration of Pruce (“Prussia”), from Medieval Latin, from a Baltic language, probably Old Prussian; for more, see Prussia. Spruce, spruse (1412), and Sprws (1378) were terms for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (beer, wood, leather). The tree with this name was also believed to have been native to Prussia. The adjective and verb senses ("trim, neat" and "to make trim, neat") are attested from 1594, and originate with spruce leather (1466), which was used to make a popular style of jerkins in the 1400s that was considered smart-looking.

Spruce · proper noun2

For Prussia, an alteration of Pruce; see that entry and spruce for more.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.