{"id":3900,"date":"2025-05-03T13:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T13:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=3900"},"modified":"2025-05-03T14:32:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T14:32:57","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=3900","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Spring\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-05-03T13:30:08+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M53S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology, we find out where the word spring springs from.\n\n\nSpring blossom on my apple tree\n\nAs a verb, spring [sp\u0279\u026a\u014b] can mean:\n\n\n  To appear.\n  To grow, to sprout.\n  To arise, come into existence.\n  To enliven.\n  To move with ...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"3.0\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_6727\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3900-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=3900-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"spring.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology, we find out where the word <strong>spring<\/strong> springs from.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/omniglot\/54475527935\/in\/album-72157674334257923\" title=\"Apple Blossom \/ Blodau Afal\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54475527935_117f4088a1_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" alt=\"Apple Blossom \/ Blodau Afal\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<em>Spring blossom on my apple tree<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As a verb, <strong>spring<\/strong> [sp\u0279\u026a\u014b] can mean:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To appear.<\/li>\n<li>To grow, to sprout.<\/li>\n<li>To arise, come into existence.<\/li>\n<li>To enliven.<\/li>\n<li>To move with great speed and energy.<\/li>\n<li>To leap over.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It comes from Middle English <em>spryngen<\/em> [\u02c8sprin\u0261\u0259n] (to spring, burst forth, shoot out, rise, emerge, appear), from Old English <em>springan<\/em> [\u02c8sprin.\u0261\u0251n] (to leap, bound, burst forth, grow, rise), from Proto-West Germanic <em>*springan<\/em> (to spring, jump to, burst, explode) from Proto-Germanic <em>*springan\u0105<\/em> (to spring, jump up, burst, explode), from Proto-Indo-European <em>*spren\u01f5\u02b0-<\/em>, from <em>*sper\u01f5\u02b0-<\/em> (to move rapidly, to hurry) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/spring#Etymology_1\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>As a noun, <strong>spring<\/strong> can mean:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An act of springing: a leap, a jump.<\/li>\n<li>A season of the year in temperate regions between winter and summer.<\/li>\n<li>Something which springs forth, up or back.<\/li>\n<li>A mechanical device made of flexible or coiled material that exerts force and attempts to spring back when bent, compressed, or stretched.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It comes from Middle English <em>spryng<\/em> [sprin\u0261] (a spring, tide, new growth, source or origin, leap, jump, strike), from Old English <em>spring<\/em> [sprin\u0261] (a spring [of water], ulcer, sore, pustule), from Proto-West Germanic <em>*spring<\/em> (a spring) from Proto-Germanic <em>*springaz<\/em> (a wellspring, fount) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/spring#Etymology_2\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same roots include <strong>springen<\/strong> [\u02c8\u0283p\u0281\u026a\u014b\u0259n] (to spring, leap, bounce, jump, burst) in German, <strong>springa<\/strong> (to run) in Swedish, <strong>spr\u00e6nge <\/strong> [\u02c8sb\u0325\u0281a\u014b\u0259] (to blow up, burst, explode) in Danish, <strong>\u043f\u0440\u0443\u0436\u0438\u0442\u0438<\/strong> [pr\u00fb\u0292iti] (to stretch out, extend, offer, give) in Ukrainian, and <strong>l\u00e9im<\/strong> [l\u02b2e\u02d0m\u02b2] (to jump, leap) in Irish [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/sper%C7%B5%CA%B0-\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, in Middle English <strong>spring<\/strong> (the season) was referred to as <em>lente\/lentin<\/em>, which comes from Old English <em>lencten<\/em> (spring, Lent), from Proto-West Germanic <em>*langat\u012bn<\/em> (spring), from <em>*lang<\/em> (long) &#038; <em>*t\u012bn<\/em> (day) &#8211; so named because the days become longer again in spring [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-West_Germanic\/langat%C4%ABn\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In Modern English, this became <strong>Lent<\/strong> (A period of the ecclesiastical year preceding Easter, traditionally involving temporary abstention from certain foods and pleasures), and is related to <strong>lente<\/strong> (spring [season]) in Dutch and Afrikaans.<\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on: <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/radio-omniglot\/id1432641094\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/8b1b1d1b-b39e-4277-b28d-479a3b5043b3\/radio-omniglot\">Amazon Music<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/podcasts\/Education-Podcasts\/Radio-Omniglot-p1154145\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.podchaser.com\/podcasts\/radio-omniglot-716327\">Podchaser<\/a>, <a href=\"<a href=\"https:\/\/podbay.fm\/p\/radio-omniglot\">Podbay<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/podtail.com\/da\/podcast\/radio-omniglot\/\">Podtail<\/a> and other pod places.<\/p>\n<p>The theme tune for this episode is <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/simon-ager\/the-unexpected-badger\">The Unexpected Badger \/ Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl<\/a>, a piece I composed and recorded in 2017.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/339162597&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a 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Get your first month free with the promo code <strong>omniglot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/\">Omniglot Blog<\/a>, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/\">Celtiadur<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Spring\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-05-03T13:30:08+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M53S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology, we find out where the word spring springs from.\n\n\nSpring blossom on my apple tree\n\nAs a verb, spring [sp\u0279\u026a\u014b] can mean:\n\n\n  To appear.\n  To grow, to sprout.\n  To arise, come into existence.\n  To enliven.\n  To move with ...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"3.0\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_6728\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3900-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=3900-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/spring.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"spring.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology, we find out where the word spring springs from. Spring blossom on my apple tree As a verb, spring [sp\u0279\u026a\u014b] can mean: To appear. To grow, to sprout. To arise, come into existence. To enliven. To move with great speed and energy. To leap over. It comes from Middle English [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,42,31,47,20,56,24,6,4,58,11,55,1,57,59,119,30,118],"tags":[90,9,167,15,88,8,231,103],"class_list":["post-3900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-afrikaans","category-danish","category-dutch","category-english","category-etymology","category-german","category-irish","category-language","category-middle-english","category-music","category-old-english-aenglisc","category-podcast","category-proto-germanic","category-proto-indo-european","category-proto-west-germanic","category-swedish","category-ukrainian-","tag-etymology","tag-language","tag-linguistics","tag-music","tag-omniglot","tag-podcast","tag-spring","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3900"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3902,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3900\/revisions\/3902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}