speche
Middle English
Alternative forms
- speke, spech, spetch, spæc, spæch, speeche
Etymology
From Old English spǣċ, a form of sprǣċ, from Proto-West Germanic *sprāku. Some forms are influenced by the verb speken.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spɛːtʃ/, /speːtʃ/
- (influenced by speken) IPA(key): /spɛːk/, /speːk/
Noun
speche (plural speches or spechen)
- speaking, speech
- 1297, Robert of Gloucester, Chronicles, 8005:
- Milce nas þer mid him [King William] non...Ac as a tirant tormentor in speche & ek in dede.
- 1297, Robert of Gloucester, Chronicles, 8005:
- dialogue, discussion, conversation
- remark, claim
- writing, text
- meeting, conference
- language, tongue
- Synonyms: langage, tonge, thede, leden
- a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “Book II”, in Troilus and Criseyde, line 22-28:
- Ȝe knowe ek that in fourme of ſpeche is chaunge / With-inne a thousand ȝeer, and wordes tho /That hadden pris now wonder nyce and ſtraunge /Us thenketh hem, and ȝet thei ſpake hem so / And ſpedde as wel in loue as men now do / Ek forto wynnen loue in ſondry ages / In ſondry londes, ſondry ben vſages […]
- You also know that the form of language is in flux; / within a thousand years, words / that had currency; really weird and bizarre / they seem to us now, but they still spoke them / and accomplished as much in love as men do now. / As for winning love across ages and / across nations, there are lots of usages […]
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Descendants
- English: speech
- Scots: spech, spek
References
- “spēch(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-20.