Etymology
1. O.E.
spillan "destroy, kill," variant of
spildan, from P.Gmc.
*spelthijanan (cf. O.H.G.
spildan "to spill," O.S.
spildian, O.N.
spilla "to destroy," M.Du.
spillen "to waste"), from PIE
*spel- "to split, break off" (cf. M.Du.
spalden, O.H.G.
spaltan "to split;" for further cognates, see spoil). Sense of "let (liquid) fall or run out" developed c.1340 from use of the word in ref. to shedding blood (c.1125). Intrans. sense is from 1655. The noun is first recorded 1845, originally "a throw from a horse."
Spill the beans first recorded 1919; to
cry for spilt milk (usually with negative) is attested from 1738. Shakespeare used
spilth "that which has spilled, act of spilling" (1607); modern
spillage is attested from 1934.
Spillover is from 1940;
spillway is from 1889.
2. From Middle English spillen, from Old English spillan, spildan (“to kill, destroy, waste”), from Proto-West Germanic *spilþijan, from Proto-Germanic *spilþijaną (“to spoil, kill, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- (“to sunder, split, rend, tear”).
3. Cognate with Dutch spillen (“to use needlessly, waste”), French gaspiller ("to waste, squander" < Germanic), Bavarian spillen (“to split, cleave, splinter”), Danish spilde (“to spill, waste”), Swedish spilla (“to spill, waste”), Icelandic spilla (“to contaminate, spoil”). See also spool. See: Middle English '
spillen', Old English '
spillan', Proto-Germanic '
*spilþijaną', Dutch '
spillen', French '
gaspiller', Danish '
spilde', Swedish '
spilla', Icelandic '
spilla'.
Verbs referencing "spill"
French
gaspiller.