spake

See also: Spake

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /speɪk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪk

Etymology 1

From 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

spake (comparative more spake, superlative most spake)

1. (obsolete) Quiet; tame.
2. (obsolete) Ready; prompt.

Derived terms

• spakely

Etymology 2

From Middle English spak, from Old English spæc, first and third person singular past tense of specan (“to speak”). More at speak.

Verb

spake

1. (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

• “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

• -speak, Akpes, Paeks, Pasek, Peaks, kapes, peaks, speak

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

spake

1. Alternative form of spoke

Etymology 2

Verb

spake

1. 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

Adjective

spake

1. definite natural masculine singular of spak