Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of spick-and-span

spick-and-span(adj.)

also spic-and-span, "very neat, clean, and trim," 1660s, from spick-and-span-new "new and fresh" (1570s), literally "new as a recently made spike and wood-chip."

It seems to be an elaboration, with spick "nail" (see spike (n.1)), of older span-new "very new," in reference to something fresh from the workman's hands, just cut or made (c. 1300), from Old Norse span-nyr, from spann "chip" (see spoon (n.)), perhaps as something likely to be new-made, + nyr "new." Or the fuller formation might be in imitation of Dutch spiksplinter nieuw "spike-splinter new."

From the expression, span- came to be taken vulgarly in 19c. New England as an adverb meaning "wholly, entirely," hence span-clean (compare Louisa May Alcott's spandy clean faces and hands).

A compound of four independent elements, like this, is very rare in E. ; the lit. meaning of the nouns spick and span is not now recognized, but the words spick and span are taken together adverbially, qualifying new, with which they form a compound. By omission of new, the phrase spick-and-span is sometimes used with an attributive force. [Century Dictionary, 1891]

also from 1660s

Entries linking to spick-and-span

spike(n.1)

"large nail," usually of iron, mid-14c., perhaps from or related to a Scandinavian word, such as Old Norse spik "splinter," Middle Swedish spijk "nail," from Proto-Germanic *spikaz (source also of Middle Dutch spicher, Dutch spijker "nail," Old English spicing "large nail," Old English spaca, Old High German speihha "spoke").

In older sources this is reconstructed to be from a PIE root *spei- "sharp point," source also of Latin spica "ear of corn," spina "thorn, prickle, backbone," and perhaps pinna "pin;" Greek spilas "rock, cliff;" Lettish spile "wooden fork;" Lithuanian speigliai "thorns," spitna "tongue of a buckle;" Old English spitu "spit." But de Vaan finds only the Germanic, Latin, and perhaps Lithuanian words connected and offers no further etymology.

The English word also might be influenced by and partly a borrowing of Latin spica (see spike (n.2)), from the same root. The general sense of "short, sharp point; pointed projection" is by 1718. The slang meaning "needle" is from 1923. The meaning "pointed stud in athletic shoes" is from 1832. The electrical sense of "pulse of short duration" is from 1935. Spike-heel as a type of women's shoe is attested by 1929.

spoon(n.)

Middle English spon, from Old English spon "chip, sliver, shaving, splinter of wood" (a sense now obsolete), from Proto-Germanic *spe-nu- (source also of Old Norse spann, sponn "chip, splinter," Swedish spån "a wooden spoon," Old Frisian spon, Middle Dutch spaen, Dutch spaan, Old High German span, German Span "chip, splinter"), formerly said to be from PIE *spe- (2) "long, flat piece of wood" (source also of Greek spathe "spade," also possibly Greek sphēn "wedge," but see spheno-).

In Middle English also "a roofing-shingle." As the word for a type of eating utensil consisting of a bowl or concave part and a handle, c. 1300 in English (in Old English such a thing might be a metesticca). This sense is supposed to be from Old Norse sponn, which meant "spoon" as well as "chip, tile." The development of the eating utensil sense is specific to Middle English and Scandinavian, though Middle Low German spon also meant "wooden spatula."

To be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth "in affluence" is from at least 1719 (Goldsmith, 1765, has: "one man is born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and another with a wooden ladle").