Obs. Forms: α. 1–2, 4–7 sprot, 1, 4–6 sprott, 5–6 sprotte. β. 5–7 sprote. [OE. sprot, = Fris., MDu. and Du., MLG. sprot (hence G. sprott, † sprotte, obs. Da. sprot, sprøt, spryt).] a. = SPRAT sb.1 1. b. A smelt.
α. c. 1000. Ælfric, Lives Saints, xxxi. 1271. Hi ealle ne mihton, Ne fisceras ne he sylf, ʓefon ænne sprot.
c. 1055. Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia, VIII. 310. Ða myclan hwælas and ða lytlan sprottas and eall fisc kynn.
c. 1110. in Napier, Contrib. O. E. Lexicog., 14. Silurus, sprot, glaucus, hwitling.
1309–10. Durh. Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 8.
1328–9. Exch. K. R. Mem. m. 125. Piscem qui dicitur sprot.
14[?]. Piers of Fulham, in Hartshorne, Anc. Metr. T., 119. The cely fisshes can nat hem selff excuse; Tyll it be spitted like a sprotte.
1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 263. Rede sprottis: x cades maketh a last.
1535. Act 27 Hen. VIII., c. 3. Fisher men … vse commonly to conducte and conuey their hearing, sprottes, and other fyshe to … Kyngstone.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 434. Sprots salted haue a special propertie to heal the biting of the beetle or venomous fly Prester.
β. c. 1475. Cath. Angl., 357/1. Sprote, epimera, piscis est.
1557. W. Turner, Ep., in Gesner, Hist. Anim. (1558), 1296. Apua quæ a Cantabrigensibus uocatur a Spirlyng, a Londinensibus, dum recens est, a Sprote; et infumata a rede Sprote, aut a dryed Sprote.
1583. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 7. Rede herynges and a hundrethe of sprotes, xijd. Ibid. (1609–10), 186. A hundreth of sprotes, xjd.
attrib. 1499. Maldon Court Rolls Bundle 58 No. 2 b. Pro le mesurage v. chaldre colys pro j sprotebote. Ibid. (1500), Bundle 59 No. 2. De custum. j sprotbote, iii. d.
