speltO.E. spelt, perhaps an early borrowing from L.L. spelta "spelt" (c.400, noted as a foreign word), which is perhaps ult. from PIE base *spel- "to split, to break off" (probably in ref. to the splitting of its husks in threshing), which is related to the root of
flint. The word
had little currency in Eng., and its history is discontinuous. Widespread in Romanic languages (cf. It. spelta, Sp. espelta, O.Fr. spelte, Mod.Fr. épeautre). The word also is widespread in Gmc. (cf. O.H.G. spelta, Ger. Spelt), and a Gmc. language is perhaps the source of the L.L. word.