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Etymology

Spruce, spruse (1412), and Sprws (1378) seem to have been generic terms for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (especially beer, boards, wooden chests and leather), and the tree thus was believed to be particular to Prussia, which for a time was figurative in England as a land of luxuries. It can be argued that the word is actually derived from the Old French term Pruce, meaning literally Prussia.