spake
See also: Spake
English
editPronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /speɪk/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪk
Etymology 1
editFrom Middle English spake, spak, from Old Norse spakr (“wise, gentle, quiet”), from Proto-Germanic *spakaz (“wise, clever”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peǵ- (“to understand; intelligent, attentive”). Cognate with Swedish spak (“manageable”), Danish spag (“quiet, gentle, timid, tame”).
Adjective
editspake (comparative more spake, superlative most spake)
Derived terms
editEtymology 2
editFrom Middle English spak, from Old English spæc, first and third person singular past tense of specan (“to speak”). More at speak.
Verb
editspake
- (archaic) simple past of speak
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 8:15–16, columns 1–2:
- And God ſpake vnto Noah, ſaying, / Goe foorth of the Arke, thou, and thy wife, and thy ſonnes, and thy ſonnes wiues with thee: […]
- 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:
- He answered me with pleasure and surprise; / And there was, while he spake, a fire about his eyes.
- 1909 [1883–1885], “Zarathustra's Prologue”, in Thomas Common, transl., Thus Spake Zarathustra, translation of Also sprach Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche:
- But at last his heart changed,—and rising one morning with the rosy dawn, he went before the sun, and spake thus unto it: Thou great star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shinest!
References
edit- “spake”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “spake”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
editMiddle English
editEtymology 1
editNoun
editspake
- Alternative form of spoke
Etymology 2
editVerb
editspake
- first/third-person singular past indicative of speken
- 1470–1483 (date produced), Thom̃s Malleorre [i.e., Thomas Malory], “[Morte Arthur]”, in Le Morte Darthur (British Library Additional Manuscript 59678), [England: s.n.], folio 449, verso, lines 15–18:
- Than ſpake ẜ Gawayne And ſeyde brothir · ẜ Aggravayne I pray you and charge you meve no ſuch · maters no more a fore me fro wyte you well I woll nat be of youre counceyle //
- Then spoke Sir Gawain, and said, “Brother, Sir Agrivain, I pray you and charge you move not such matters any more before me, for be ye assured I will not be of your counsel.”
Swedish
editAdjective
editspake
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪk
- Rhymes:English/eɪk/1 syllable
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English non-lemma forms
- English verb forms
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with quotations
- English irregular simple past forms
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English non-lemma forms
- Middle English verb forms
- Middle English first/third-person singular past forms
- Middle English terms with quotations
- Swedish non-lemma forms
- Swedish adjective forms