speech

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spiːtʃ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English speche,^[2][3] inherited from Old English spǣc (“act or manner of speaking; utterance; statement; language”), spēc,^[4][2][5] a variant of earlier sprǣc,^[4][2] related to sprecan (“to speak”), specan, the source of speak,^[2][5] from Proto-Germanic *sprek-, *spek-.^[4] It is cognate with Old Frisian sprēke, Old Saxon sprāka, Dutch spraak, German Sprache and Danish sprog.^[4][2][5] The forms with spr- were extinct in English by 1200.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of speaking, the utterance of words: about 725 in the OED.^[6] Barnhart dates sprǣc before 800, in the Corpus Glossary, and spǣc before 1050.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old English spǣc had a range of senses: the power of uttering words, a manner of speaking, a statement or narrative, and a language.^[4] Talk, conversation or conference is from about 900.^[6] Speech was used of written words by about 1200.^[4] A formal address delivered to an audience is from the 1580s.^[4] Of a musical instrument or organ pipe, its sounding, it is from 1862,^[6] and in linguistics speech renders Saussure's parole from 1924.^[6] Speechify, usually derogatory, is from the 18th century.^[5] The verb speech, “to address in a speech”, from the 17th century, is now rare.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 725 – the act of speaking.^[6]
• before 800 – Old English sprǣc.^[2]
• c. 900 – conversation.^[6]
• c. 1200 – the spr- forms lost.^[4]
• 1580s – a formal address.^[4]
• 1924 – speech in linguistics.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The ability to speak; the act of speaking.
2. A formal talk given to an audience; an address or oration.
3. The way a person speaks: slurred speech.
4. A particular language or dialect.
5. Something spoken; a remark or conversation.

Related words

• speak
• spokesman
• speechless
• speechify

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press