Definition of spruce

The word "spruce" is derived from a Scandinavian language, possibly Norwegian or Sami. In the late 1600s, when British traders first encountered these trees in the northeast part of what is now Canada, they noticed the pitchy resin that oozed from them resembled the ashen-faced minerals known as spar (or spar agate, to be specific) found in the mining regions of Scandinavia. In English, the word for these forests was originally "spar agates," or "sparthagaites" in Middle English—a translation of the French "sapins" brought back by French explorers. Thesewords came to describe both the sparkling resin of the trees and the trees themselves. Eventually, the word "spar agate" or its variations fell out of favor in Scots English and Scottish Gaelic, and by the late 1700s, it had been shortened to just "spruce" in both languages. The English, in turn, began using the Scots English term for these trees, which then found its way into American English. Today, "spruce" is a more general term used to describe different evergreen trees worldwide, including species native to North America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific region. Overall, the origin and evolution of the word "spruce" serve as a fascinating example of how ongoing linguistic comparisons and foreign language borrowings enrich our vocabulary and the ways we understand the world.