As a verb, from Middle English springen ("to burst forth"), from Old English springan ("to [[burst forth"), cognate with Afrikaans spring, West Frisian springe, Dutch & German springen, Danish springe, Swedish springa. Further etymology is uncertain, but usually taken to derive from a Proto-Germanic verb reconstructed as *springaną, from a Proto-Indo-European root reconstructed *sperǵʰ- whose other descendants may include Lithuanian spreñgti ("to [[push (in)"), Old Church Slavonic прѧсти ("to spin, to stretch"), Latin spargere ("to sprinkle, to scatter"), Ancient Greek σπέρχω ("to hasten"), Sanskrit स्पृहयति ("to be eager"). Some newer senses derived from the noun.
As a noun, from Middle English spring ("a wellspring, tide, branch, sunrise, kind of dance or blow, ulcer, snare, flock"), from Old English spring ("wellspring, ulcer") and Old English spryng ("a jump"), from ablaut forms of the Proto-Germanic verb. Further senses derived from the verb and from clippings of day-spring, springtime, spring tide, etc. Its sense as the season, first attested in a work predating 1325, gradually replaced Old English lencten as that word became more specifically liturgical. Compare fall.
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