Where does 'spill the beans' come from?

Answer 1

This expression is said to be derived from a voting system that was used in ancient Greece. Apparently, white beans indicated positive votes, and black beans negative. The votes had to be unanimous, so if the collector 'spilled the beans' before the vote was complete, and a black bean was seen, the vote was halted.

It is plausible - but doesn't account for the fact that the phrase is first found in the early 20th century.

The word 'spill' has been used as a verb meaning 'divulge' or 'let out' since at least the 16th century.

That 'let out' meaning was probably influenced by an earlier meaning of 'spill', i.e. 'kill' and the subsequent usage 'spill blood', which was in common use by the 14th century.

The first uses of 'spill the beans' is from the USA. The meaning of the phrase was as in 'spoil the beans', or 'upset the applecart', which goes back to the apparent Greek bean container being knocked over.

Soon after, the phrase was used to mean 'upset a previously stable situation by talking out of turn', which is closer to how we use it now.

So. We have 'spill' to mean 'divulge' - but why beans?

Well, it could have been anything, not just beans! There are actually several 'spill the' variants - 'spill the soup', 'spill your guts', or simply, just 'spill'.