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speech

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 17:07. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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.
  • 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