speche

Middle English

Alternative forms

• speke, spech, spetch, spæc, spæch, speeche

Etymology

From Old English spǣċ, a form of sprǣċ, from Proto-Germanic *sprēkō. Some forms are influenced by the verb speken.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɛːtʃ/, /speːtʃ/
• IPA^(key): /spɛːk/, /speːk/

Noun

speche (plural speches or spechen)

1. speaking, speech
   • 1297, Robert of Gloucester, Chronicles, 8005:

     Milce nas þer mid him [King William] non...Ac as a tirant tormentor in speche & ek in dede.

2. dialogue, discussion, conversation
3. remark, claim
4. writing, text
5. meeting, conference
6. language, tongue

   • a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “Book II”, in Troilus and Criseyde, lines 22-28:

     Ȝe knowe ek that in fourme of ſpeche is chaunge / With-inne a thousand ȝeer, and wordes tho /That hadden pris now wonder nyce and ſtraunge /Us thenketh hem, and ȝet thei ſpake hem so / And ſpedde as wel in loue as men now do / Ek forto wynnen loue in ſondry ages / In ſondry londes, ſondry ben vſages […]

     You also know that the form of language is in flux; / within a thousand years, words / that had currency; really weird and bizarre / they seem to us now, but they still spoke them / and accomplished as much in love as men do now. / As for winning love across ages and / across nations, there are lots of usages […]

Synonyms

• (language): langage
• (language): tung
• (language): thede
• (language): leden, lede

Descendants

• English: speech
• Scots: spech, spek

References

• “spēch(e (n.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-20.