An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Speise

by Friedrich Kluge

Speise, feminine, ‘food,’ from the equivalent Middle High German spîse, Old High German spîsa, feminine; borrowed in the beginning of the 9th century from Italian and Middle Latin spêsa for spensa (with regard to Old High German î for Latin ê, see Feier and Seide). Compare Italian spesa, ‘expenditure, expenses’ (whence Spesen), from Italian spéndere, ‘to spend’ (see spenden), equivalent to Latin expendere. Speise may have been borrowed contemporaneously with Schüffel; compare further Gothic mêsa and Old High German miasa, from Latin mensa.