spruce

1) The spruce fir is not a native English tree but takes its name from Prussia, a state known in the Middle Ages as Pruce or Spruce. The wood was imported [see pruce] and probably used to make chests, coffers and the like, although such items may themselves have been imported.

1429 lego Johanni de Kyrkby meum sprus kyst, Kippax

1433 unum spruce coffre, York

1485 una cista de spruse, Ripon

1500 ‘the … sprewskyste in the chamber’, Bradford

1519 a spruce ark, Roundhay. Less freqent usage include: 1528 a chest with xv sprewes skynnes, Hull

1549 one spruce counttar, a langsettill, a side burde, Elland

1622 bo[ug]ht me 30 sprusedeale boards, Brandsby.

dates 1429 1433 1485 1500 1519 1528 1549 1622

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Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0