spoke English · revision 4420

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 888|origins=gem-pro *spaikōn}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /spəʊk/, US /spoʊk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|spoke]], spake,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|spāca|t=spoke of a wheel, radius]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) related to Old English spīcing “large nail”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*spaikōn]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) also the source of Old Saxon spēka, Old Frisian spēke, Middle Dutch speke, Dutch spaak and Old High German speicha, German Speiche.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) The Germanic word is of uncertain origin, perhaps from [[ine-pro|*spei-|t=sharp point]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the base of [[spike]].^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ One of the bars or rods that radiate from the hub of a wheel to the rim: about 888 in the OED,^(OED 1989) before 899 in Barnhart, in Alfred's translation of Boethius.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Figuratively the word was used of the wheel of Fortune from 1412–20.^(OED 1989) It was extended to a bar or rod shaped for a purpose, a stake, from 1467,^(OED 1989) to a bar put through a wheel to keep a vehicle from rolling,^(Etymonline) to the rung of a ladder from before 1658,^(OED 1989) and to the radial handles of a ship's steering wheel from 1648.^(OED 1989) The phrase ''put a spoke in someone's wheel'', to thwart a plan, is from the late 16th century,^(Cresswell 2021) and is probably a mistranslation of Dutch een spaak in 't wiel steeken “put a bar in the wheel”, the bar being one stuck in to stop the wheel turning.^(Cresswell 2021) The verb, to furnish with spokes, is from 1720, in Pope's translation of the Iliad,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) and to check a wheel with a spoke from 1854.^(OED 1989) The ''spokeshave'', a drawknife first used to shape spokes, is from 1510.^(Barnhart 1988) In Scots, a spoke was one of the poles on which a coffin was carried to the grave, from before 1670.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 888 – a spoke of a wheel.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1412–20 – of the wheel of Fortune.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1467 – a bar or stake.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1510 – ''spokeshave''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1580 – ''a spoke in someone's wheel''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1648 – a handle of a steering wheel.^(OED 1989)

+ * a. 1658 – a rung of a ladder.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1720 – verb, to furnish with spokes.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Any of the rods or bars that connect the [[hub]] of a wheel to its [[rim]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # One of the handles projecting from the rim of a ship's steering wheel.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A rod put into a wheel to stop it turning.^(AHD)

+ # A [[rung]] of a ladder.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To fit with spokes.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To stop (a wheel) by thrusting a rod into it.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[spokeless]]

+ * [[spokeshave]]

+ * [[spokewise]]

+ * [[hub-and-spoke]]

+ * [[spoke-dog]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[spike]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Spoke'' is also the past tense of [[speak]], and in archaic or dialect use its past participle.^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023) In Northumberland, Shropshire and Essex dialect a spoke was also a speech, a talk or a tale.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}