Where does “spanen” come from?
spanen (Middle Dutch) comes from Proto-Germanic spanōną, from Proto-Germanic spenô, from Proto-Indo-European psten-os-, from Proto-Indo-European pstḗn, from Proto-Indo-European ph₂ǵ-sth₂-ḗn, from Proto-Indo-European steh₂- — to stand.
Ancestry of “spanen”, step by step
spanen traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.