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)

(obsolete) Quiet; tame.
(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

(archaic) simple past tense of speak
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 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
spake in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

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

Middle English

Noun

spake

Alternative form of spoke

Verb

spake

first/third-person singular past indicative of speken
- 1470–1483 (date produced), 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.”