Attested 16th century. Cognate with Dutch sprenkelen, English sprinkle. Possibly a frequentative of sprengen (“to spray, to water”), from Proto-Germanic *sprangijaną. Alternatively denominal from Sprenkel, from Middle High German sprenkel, sprinkel, which would then be a nasalised variant of spreckel (“spot”), from the root of Proto-Germanic *sprakô (“spark”). Compare Middle Dutch sprank (“spark” and “spot”). It is also possible that the two roots were mixed.
sprenkeln (weak, third-person singular present sprenkelt, past tense sprenkelte, past participle gesprenkelt, auxiliary haben)
| infinitive | sprenkeln | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | sprenkelnd | ||||
| past participle | gesprenkelt | ||||
| auxiliary | haben | ||||
| indicative | subjunctive | ||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| present | ich sprenkle ich sprenkele ich sprenkel |
wir sprenkeln | i | ich sprenkele ich sprenkle |
wir sprenkeln |
| du sprenkelst | ihr sprenkelt | du sprenkelest du sprenklest |
ihr sprenkelet ihr sprenklet | ||
| er sprenkelt | sie sprenkeln | er sprenkele er sprenkle |
sie sprenkeln | ||
| preterite | ich sprenkelte | wir sprenkelten | ii | ich sprenkelte1 | wir sprenkelten1 |
| du sprenkeltest | ihr sprenkeltet | du sprenkeltest1 | ihr sprenkeltet1 | ||
| er sprenkelte | sie sprenkelten | er sprenkelte1 | sie sprenkelten1 | ||
| imperative | sprenkle (du) sprenkel (du) sprenkele (du) |
sprenkelt (ihr) | |||
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.