An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Span

by Friedrich Kluge

Span, masculine, ‘sharing, chip, splinter,’ from Middle High German and Old High German spân, masculine, ‘chip,’ Dutch spaan, ‘chip, blade of an oar,’ Anglo-Saxon spôn, English spoon, as well as Old Icelandic spónn, spánn, ‘splinter of wood, spoon,’ attest the double sense of primitively Teutonic spênu-, of whose early history, on account of the want of cognate terms in the non-Teutonic languages, nothing can be definitely ascertained. The connection with Greek σπά-θη, ‘spoon for stirring’ (see Spaten), is uncertain.