From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From English spunk,[2] itself partially from Middle Irish sponc (“sponge”) (from Latin spongia), a sense which is now obsolete in Irish.
sponc m (genitive singular spoinc, nominative plural spoinc)
- tinder, touchwood, spunk
- spunk (courage; spirit; mettle; determination)
- Synonym: sprid
- coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)
- ^ “sponc”, in Historical Irish Corpus, 1600–1926, Royal Irish Academy
- ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “spongc, sponc”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
- ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 200, page 76
