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Origin and history of asperges

asperges(n.)

sprinkling ritual of the Catholic church, also an antiphon intoned or sung during this, 1550s, from Late Latin asperges, noun use of second-person singular future indicative of Latin aspergere "to scatter, strew upon, sprinkle," from ad "to" (see ad-) + spargere "to sprinkle" (see sparse).

The word is taken from the phrase Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo et mundabor, from the 51st Psalm (Vulgate), sung during the rite of sprinkling a congregation with holy water. Old English used onstregdan as a loan-translation of Latin aspergere.

also from 1550s

Entries linking to asperges

sparse(adj.)

"thinly scattered, existing at considerable intervals, widely spaced between," 1727, from Latin sparsus "scattered," past participle of spargere "to scatter, spread, shower." This is, according to de Vaan, from Proto-Italic *sparg-, from PIE *sp(e)rg- "to strew," extended form of root *sper- "to spread, sow" (source also of Hittite išpar- "to spread out, strew;" Greek speirein "to strew, to sow," spora "a scattering, sowing," sperma "sperm, seed," literally "that which is scattered").

Sparse has been regarded, falsely, as an Americanism, and has been objected to as being exactly equivalent to scattered, and therefore unnecessary. As a merely qualifying adjective, however, it is free from the possible ambiguity in the participial form and consequent verbal implication of scattered. [Century Dictionary, 1895] 

The word is found earlier in English as a verb, "to scatter abroad" (16c.). Related: Sparsely; sparseness; sparsity.

ad-

word-forming element expressing direction toward or in addition to, from Latin ad "to, toward" in space or time; "with regard to, in relation to," as a prefix, sometimes merely emphatic, from PIE root *ad- "to, near, at."

Simplified to a- before sc-, sp- and st-; modified to ac- before many consonants and then re-spelled af-, ag-, al-, etc., in conformity with the following consonant (as in affection, aggression). Also compare ap- (1).

In Old French, reduced to a- in all cases (an evolution already underway in Merovingian Latin), but French refashioned its written forms on the Latin model in 14c., and English did likewise 15c. in words it had picked up from Old French. In many cases pronunciation followed the shift.

Over-correction at the end of the Middle Ages in French and then English "restored" the -d- or a doubled consonant to some words that never had it (accursed, afford). The process went further in England than in France (where the vernacular sometimes resisted the pedantic), resulting in English adjourn, advance, address, advertisement (Modern French ajourner, avancer, adresser, avertissement). In modern word-formation sometimes ad- and ab- are regarded as opposites, but this was not in classical Latin.

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