FromMiddle Englishspake,spak, fromOld Norsespakr(“wise, gentle, quiet”), fromProto-Germanic*spakaz(“wise, clever”), fromProto-Indo-European*(s)peǵ-(“to understand; intelligent, attentive”). Cognate withSwedishspak(“manageable”),Danishspag(“quiet, gentle, timid, tame”).
spake (comparativemorespake,superlativemostspake)
- (obsolete)Quiet;tame.
- (obsolete)Ready;prompt.
FromMiddle Englishspak, fromOld Englishspæc, first and third person singular past tense ofspecan(“to speak”). More atspeak.
spake
- (archaic)simplepast ofspeak
1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Genesis8:15–16, columns1–2:And Godſpake vnto Noah, ſaying, / Goe foorth of the Arke, thou, and thy wife, and thy ſonnes, and thy ſonnes wiues with thee:[…]
1909 [1883–1885], “Zarathustra's Prologue”, inThomas Common, transl.,Thus Spake Zarathustra, translation ofAlso sprach Zarathustra byFriedrich Nietzsche:But at last his heart changed,—and rising one morning with the rosy dawn, he went before the sun, andspake thus unto it: Thou great star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shinest!
- William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “spake”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
- “spake”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
- peaks,Pasek,-speak,Paske,Peaks,speak,Paeks,Akpes,sapek,kapes,pesak
spake
- Alternative form ofspoke
spake
- first/third-personsingularpastindicative ofspeken
1470–1483 (date produced), Thom̃s Malleorre [i.e.,Thomas Malory], “[Morte Arthur]”, inLe Morte Darthur (British Library Additional Manuscript 59678), [England:s.n.],folio 449, verso, lines15–18:Thanſpake ẜGawayne And ſeyde brothir · ẜAggravayne 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 //- Thenspoke 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.”
spake
- definitenatural masculinesingular ofspak
