speak English · revision 3307

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725, Beowulf|origins=gem-pro *sprekaną}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /spiːk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|speken]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) [[inh|ang|specan]], a variant of earlier [[m|ang|sprecan|t=to utter words, speak]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[gem-pro|*sprekaną]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the source also of Old Saxon sprecan, Dutch spreken, Old High German sprehhan and German sprechen.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) Barnhart connects it with Old Norse spraka “to crackle”, Greek spharageîsthai “to crackle”, Lithuanian sprāgěti “to crackle” and Sanskrit sphūrjati “bursts forth, crackles”, from [[ine-pro|*sp(h)reg-]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) but Boutkan finds no Indo-European etymology for the Germanic word.^(Etymonline) The -r- began to drop out in Late West Saxon and was gone by the mid-12th century, perhaps under the influence of Danish spage “to crackle”, used in slang for “to speak”.^(Etymonline) The noun [[speech]] comes from the same Old English base.^(Cresswell 2021)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English sprecan, “to speak”, is found about 725 in ''Beowulf'', and the form specan about 1000;^(Barnhart 1988) Middle English speken is from probably before 1200, in Layamon.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old English sprecan was not the main verb for speaking: the ''Beowulf'' poet prefers maþelian, from mæþel “assembly”.^(Etymonline) In Old and Middle English the verb also meant “to write, state in writing”,^(Etymonline) and of things, “to be expressive”, is by the 1530s.^(Etymonline) The old past tense spake was replaced by spoke, probably under the influence of the past participle spoken.^(Barnhart 1988) The noun ''speak'', “talk, speech”, from about 1300, survived in Scots and dialect, and its modern use in compounds is probably all from Orwell's ''Newspeak''.^(Etymonline) ''I speak as I find'' first appears in Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew''.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – Old English sprecan.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1000 – the form specan.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1200 – Middle English speken.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1300 – noun, talk, speech.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1530s – of things, to be expressive.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1930 – ''speak'' as slang for a speakeasy.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To say words aloud; to [[talk]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # To express thoughts or feelings in words.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To give a [[speech]] or [[lecture]].^(AHD)

+ # To be able to talk in a particular [[language]]: ''she speaks French''.^(AHD)

+ # To convey a meaning without words: ''actions speak louder than words''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(in compounds)'' A particular jargon or way of talking: ''computer-speak''.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[speakable]]

+ * [[speakableness]]

+ * [[speakably]]

+ * [[bespeak]]

+ * [[forespeak]]

+ * [[misspeak]]

+ * [[outspeak]]

+ * [[speaker]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[speech]]

+ * [[spoke]]

+ * [[spoken]]

+ * [[speakeasy]]

+ * [[Newspeak]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Speak'' and ''talk'' are often interchangeable, but ''speak'' is the more formal and is used of addressing an audience, while ''talk'' suggests conversation.^(AHD)^(Etymonline) In Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset dialect a ''speak'' was also a long pole used in thatching.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}