speed

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spiːd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English spede,^[2][3] inherited from Old English spēd (“success, prosperity, riches; luck; advancement”),^[4][5] from Proto-Germanic *spōdiz,^[4][5] the source also of Old Saxon spōd “success”, Dutch spoed “haste, speed” and Old High German spuot “success”,^[4][5] from the Germanic base of Old English spōwan “to prosper, succeed”.^[6][7] It is traced to Proto-Indo-European *spē- (“to thrive, prosper”),^[2][4] the source also of Latin spēs “hope” and Sanskrit spháyate “increases”.^[4][5][3] The verb is Middle English speden, from Old English spēdan “to succeed, prosper, advance”.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English spēd, “success, prosperity”, is recorded before 800,^[5] and in the sense “abundance” before 900.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Speed first meant success, and the link with quickness is probably the habit of equating doing something well with doing it fast.^[9][2] The meaning “quickness, swiftness” emerged in late Old English, at first usually in the dative plural used as an adverb, as in spedum feran.^[4] The old sense survives in Godspeed and more haste, less speed.^[9][4] The rate of motion, fast or slow, is from the mid-14th century.^[4] The verb meant “to succeed, prosper” in Old English (993),^[8][5] “to go quickly” from about 1200,^[4][5] “to send forth quickly” from the 1560s,^[4] and “to drive a car too fast” from 1908.^[4] A gear of a machine is from 1866.^[4] The speed limit is from 1879, first of locomotives, and the speed trap from 1908.^[4] Speed as slang for amphetamines is from the 1960s, by 1967.^[9][4]

Timeline

• before 800 – Old English spēd, success.^[5]
• 993 – verb, to succeed.^[8]
• late Old English – swiftness.^[4]
• c. 1200 – verb, to go quickly.^[4]
• mid-14th century – rate of motion.^[4]
• 1866 – a gear.^[4]
• 1879 – speed limit.^[4]
• 1908 – verb, to drive too fast, and speed trap.^[4]
• 1967 – amphetamine (slang).^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The rate at which someone or something moves or happens.
2. Quickness of motion; swiftness.
3. A gear of a vehicle or machine: a ten-speed bicycle.
4. The sensitivity of a photographic film, or the time a camera's shutter is open.
5. (slang) An amphetamine drug.
6. (archaic) Success; prosperity.

Verb

1. To move or go quickly.
2. To drive faster than the legal limit.
3. (speed up) To make or become faster.
4. (archaic) To help to succeed; to prosper.

Word family

• speedster
• speeder
• speedful
• speedfully
• speedfulness
• speedingly
• speedingness
• speedless

Related words

• speedy
• speedometer
• speedway
• godspeed
• despair
• prosper
• space

Usage notes

In northern English and Yorkshire dialect speed was also a disease of young cattle, especially in autumn.^[10]

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)