An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Speise

by Friedrich Kluge

Speise, f., ‘food,’ from the equiv. MidHG. spîse, OHG. spîsa, f.; borrowed in the beginning of the 9th cent. from Ital. and MidLat. spêsa for spensa (with regard to OHG. î for Lat. ê, see Feier and Seide). Comp. Ital. spesa, ‘expenditure, expenses’ (whence Spesen), from Ital. spéndere, ‘to spend’ (see spenden), equiv. to Lat. expendere. Speise may have been borrowed contemporaneously with Schüffel; comp. further Goth. mêsa and OHG. miasa, from Lat. mensa.