spasm: [14] A spasm is etymologically a sudden ‘stretching’ of a muscle (although in fact physiologically spasms are contractions of muscle tissue). The word comes via Old French spasme and Latin spasmus from Greek spasmós, a derivative of the verb span ‘pull’. This in turn was descended from the Indo-European base *spə- ‘stretch’. The metaphorical notion of ‘intermittence’ (based on the intervals between spasms) emerged in the derived adjective spasmodic [17] in the 19th century. => stadium
spasm (n.)
late 14c., "sudden violent muscular contraction," from Old French spasme (13c.) and directly from Latin spasmus "a spasm," from Greek spasmos "a spasm, convulsion," from span "draw up, tear away, contract violently, pull, pluck," from PIE *spe- "stretch." Figurative sense of "a sudden convulsion" (of emotion, politics, etc.) is attested from 1817.
spasm (v.)
1900, from spasm (n.). Related: Spasmed; spasming.
