Where does “spell” come from?

spell (Middle English) comes from Old English spell, from Proto-Germanic spellą, from Proto-Indo-European (s)pel- — to split in two, split in half; to speak with a...

Ancestry of “spell”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishspellnews; story
2Proto-Germanicspelląnews, message; tale, story
3Proto-Indo-European(s)pel-to split in two, split in half; to speak with a...

Words derived from “spell”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)pel- →Every word from Proto-Germanic spellą →Every word from Old English spell →