▪ I. spelt, n.1
Also 5 spilt, spylt, 6 spelte, 7 spealt.
[OE. spelt, = MDu. spelte, spelt (Du. spelt, WFris. spjelte), OS. spelta (MLG. spelte), OHG. spelza (MHG. spelze, spelte, G. spelz, spelt), a. late L. spelta (from c 400, mentioned as a foreign word answering to the older L. far), whence also It. spelta, spelda, Sp. espelta, OF. spelte, spealte, spiautre, espeltre, espiautre, etc., mod.F. épeautre.
The evidence indicates that the word had no continuous history in Eng., and little currency, until the 16th cent.]
1. A species of grain (Triticum spelta) related to wheat, formerly much cultivated in southern Europe and still grown in some districts.
| a 1000 in Wr.-Wülcker 273 Faar, spelt. Ibid. 401 Farris, hwætes, speltes. Ibid. 405 Far serotina, spelt samgrene. 1392 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 225 Pro spelt per ipsum empt' ibidem [sc. at Modon]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxxxi. (Bodl. MS.), Some greyne is noþer in codde noþer in huole as barlich & spilt [v.r. spylt]. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. (1568) 85 The stalkes [of Phalaris] ar..much lyke vnto the strawes of spelt. Ibid. 133 Semen is called..in Duche speltz; it may in English be called spelt. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 164 This plant groweth amongst wheate and Spelte, in good frutefull groundes. 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. xlii. 61 Spelt is like to wheate in stalks and eare. a 1656 Ussher Ann. (1658) 770 He passed it..thorough unbeaten paths, where his food was spelt and dates. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 55 The meale of spelt, in red Wine helpeth the stingings of Scorpions, applied warme. 1736 Bailey Houshold Dict. s.v. Brawn, Bread made of Spelt is hard of digestion. 1762 Mills Pract. Husb. I. 408 Spelt, though commonly reckoned a summer corn, is sowed either in autumn, or in the spring. 1805–6 Cary Dante, Inf. xiii. 101 There sprouting, as a grain of spelt, It rises to a sapling. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 75 There, upon the season being changed, You'll sow the golden spelt. 1884 De Candolle's Orig. Cultivated Pl. 362 Spelt is now hardly cultivated out of south Germany and German-Switzerland. |
2. attrib., as spelt-cake, spelt-corn, spelt-ridge, spelt-wheat.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. xi. 35 Spelt-corne in a fat moist layer degenerats from bad to better, viz. in three yeeres space to Wheat. 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 87/1 Spelt-Corn is lesser and blacker than Wheat. 1694 Motteux Rabelais II. Let. i. 3 Oats, Spelt-Corn, and Barly. 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Zea, The bread made of the spelt corn..is lighter and whiter than any other bread. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food of Man 35 Spelt Wheat—Triticum spelta—is imagined to have been the Triticum of the Romans, and the Zea of the Greeks. 1853 A. Soyer Pantropheon 43 Among other delicate dishes..he had ordered a spelt cake to be made. |
▪ II. spelt, n.2 rare. Now dial.
[Connected with spelt v. Cf. speld n. and G. spelze husk.]
A thin piece of wood or metal; spec. a board of a book (OE.), a toe- or heel-plate (dial.).
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 164 Quaternio, cine. Planca, spelt... Membrana, bocfel. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3265 Abowte cho whirllide a whele... The spekes was splentide alle with speltis of siluer. 1585 Higins tr. Junius' Nomenclator 143 Schidia vel schidiæ,..Chippes or spelts of wood. 1875 Parish Sussex Dial. 111 Spelts, iron toes and heels for boots. |
▪ III. spelt
variant of spalt n.2 Obs.
▪ IV. spelt, v. Now dial.
(spɛlt)
[Related to speld v. in the same way as spalt v. to spald v. Cf. G. spelzen to husk.]
trans. To husk or pound (grain); to bruise or split (esp. beans). Hence ˈspelted ppl. a. (Cf. spelk v.2)
| 1570 Levins Manip. 58 To spelt corne, tundere, eglumare. 1607 Markham Cavel. v. (1617) 8 The loues in some places are rould in spelted beanes. 1620 ― Farew. Husb. xv. 137 The garden Pease..serue..for pottage, boiling, parching or spelting. 1623 ― Cheap Husb. (ed. 3) i. 52 If then you cause those beanes to be spelted vpon a milne, and so mixt with oates, it will recouer him. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 258 Feed them with Oats, spelted Beans, Barley-meal, or Ground-Malt mixed with Milk. 1877 in N.W. Linc. Gloss. |