Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/spōk

This Proto-West Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Unknown. According to Klein, from a Proto-Indo-European source shared with Latvian spīgana (“dragon, witch”), Lithuanian spingėti (“to shine”), Old Prussian spanxti (“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pāuǵ-, *(s)pāug- (“to shine, spark; brilliance, spectre”), though the vowels make this less plausible. It could otherwise have been borrowed from a substrate language in the area where Low German/Dutch was spoken. Compare *pūkō.

*spōk n

1. spook, ghost, apparition
2. witchcraft, wizardry

• Old Frisian: spōk
  • North Frisian: Spook
  • Saterland Frisian: Spouk
  • West Frisian: spoek
• Old Saxon: *spōk
  • Middle Low German: spôk
    • German Low German: Spöök
      • → German: Spuk, Spökes
    • → Old Danish: spøg
      • Danish: spøg
    • → Faroese: spók
    • → Norwegian: spjok
    • → Swedish: spöke
• Old Dutch: *spōk
  • Middle Dutch: spoke, spooce
    • Dutch: spook
      • → English: spook

• J. de Vries (1971), Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek, Leiden
• Klein, Dr. Ernest, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., 1971.