05-14-2008, 03:41 PM
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#4
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Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Crowsnest Pass
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verb, spilled or spilt [dictionary.com]
Word History: Crying over spilt milk is pointless because it cannot undo the damage, which in the literal sense of this phrase is trivial; but in the Middle Ages spill was used for actions that seem to demand tears. Old English spillan, the ancestor of Modern English spill, meant such things as "to destroy, mutilate, kill." The senses "to waste" and "to shed blood" connect these earlier uses with substances falling out of containers, often wastefully. But many people, castles, and fortunes were "spilled" before people started spilling milk, at least judging from the recorded evidence. Spill is first recorded in the sense "to cause a substance to fall out of a container" in a work composed in the 14th century. Since then most of the senses having to do with violent destruction have become obsolete or archaic, but we still speak of spilling blood, as well as milk, water, and gravy.
Last edited by troutman; 05-14-2008 at 03:44 PM.
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