An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/spleißen
spleißen, vb., ‘to split, cleave,’ from the equiv. MidHG. splîȥen; corresponding to E. to split and the equiv. Du. splijten; an OTeut. root vb. which does not occur elsewhere. To this is allied ModHG. Splitter, m., ‘splinter,’ from MidHG. splitter, m. and f. (Goth. *splitra-; an old tr in HG. is not permutated; comp. bitter, treu, and zittern), but in MidHG. a term spelter, ‘splinter,’ connected with spalten, is mostly used. Comp. Du. splinter, and the equiv. E. splint, splinter, derived from the nasalised root.