An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/spreiten

by Friedrich Kluge

spreiten, verb, ‘to spread, strew,’ from Middle High German and Old High German spreiten, weak verb, ‘to unfold’; a primary form also occurs, Middle High German sprîten, sprîden, ‘to spread.’ Compare Dutch spreiden, spreijen, Anglo-Saxon sprœ̂dan, English to spread. The Teutonic root sprī̆þ has not yet been found in the non-Teutonic languages; no connection with breit is possible.