Refine this word faster
Spake
Definitions
- 1 Quiet; tame. obsolete
- 2 Ready; prompt. obsolete
- 1 A surname.
- 1 Alternative form of spoke (of a wheel). Scotland, alt-of, alternative
- 2 A type of wagon on rails used for carrying workers in and out of a colliery. Wales
- 1 simple past of speak archaic, form-of, past
"And God ſpake vnto Noah, ſaying, / Goe foorth of the Arke, thou, and thy wife, and thy ſonnes, and thy ſonnes wiues with thee:[…]"
Etymology
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”).
From Middle English spak, from Old English spæc, first and third person singular past tense of specan (“to speak”). More at speak.
Alternative form.
Uncertain. Possibly a variant of spoke, which has a variety of extended senses in English dialects and in Scots (including a tree branch or cutting, a windmill's arm, a birdcage's perch, and a bar for carrying a coffin), though none closely matching this.
See also for "spake"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: spake