If someone calls you “ the spit prototype ” of your mother , you belike translate them to mean that you look on the dot like your mother . But , likeup to sniff , made from scratch , and countless otherphrases , the literal meaning ofspitting imageis pretty mystifying to most modern - day English talker .
In fact , it ’s a slight kabbalistic to linguistic scholars , too : There ’s not a individual recognised account for howspitting imagecame to be . As Merriam - Websterreports , the chair theory is that the phrase begin out asspit and prototype — spithaving been used to mean “ exact likeness ” since at least the early nineteenth 100 . Howspitgot that connotation is another mystery , though some trust it ’s a less wordy way of saying “ You attend so much like so - and - so that you must ’ve been spit right out of their mouth ! ” That condemnation showed up almost on the dot in works date from the tardy sixteenth century and onward , including in George Farquhar ’s 1698playLove and a Bottle . “ Poor Child ! He ’s as like his own Dadda , as if he were ptyalize out of his mouth , ” Mrs. Trudgedeclares .
Eventually , you could only call someone “ the very spit ” of someone else and have your meaning sympathize . In an 1810 entry fromThe New Newgate Calendar , for illustration , a nursedescribeda youngster as “ the very expectoration of the old Captain . ” From there , the phrase manifestly evolved tospit and image , which may have been misheard enough to becomespitten image , which gave way tospittin ’ ikon , sprinkle image , and evensplitting image .
As for whetherspitting imageis amistakedepends on how long you believe a phrase postulate to be around in social club for it to be turn over technically right . consort tothe Oxford English Dictionary , the early known written reference tospitting imagewas in 1929 — andspittin ’ imagefirst appeared back in 1901 .
[ h / tMerriam - Webster ]
