Sput

The inherited continuation of Middle High German spuot (“success”), from Old High German spuot, from Proto-West Germanic *spōdi, is still attested a few times in Early Modern German. Later use, however, entirely follows Low German Spood, from Middle Low German spôt, also from the West Germanic. See sputen for more.

• IPA^(key): /ʃpuːt/

Sput f (genitive Sput, no plural)

1. (very rare) haste, hurry, rush

   Hast und Sput tut selten gut.

   Haste and rush are seldom good.

2. (very rare, obsolete) success

   Je größer Hast, je minder Sput.

   More haste, less speed.

• Found exclusively in Standard German renderings of certain Low German proverbs and idioms such as the above. The sense “haste” is intelligible because of the related verb sputen, whereas the sense “success” requires special knowledge of Low German.

• sputen