spake

spake · adjective¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)peǵ-“to understand; intelligent, attentive”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*spakaz“wise, clever”
3. Old Norse · derived fromspakr“wise, gentle, quiet”
4. Middle English · inherited fromspake
5. English todayspake

From Middle English spake, spak, from Old Norse spakr (“wise, gentle, quiet”), from Proto-Germanic *spakaz (“wise, clever”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peǵ- (“to understand; intelligent, attentive”). Cognate with Swedish spak (“manageable”), Danish spag (“quiet, gentle, timid, tame”).

spake · verb²

1. Old English · inherited fromspæc
2. Middle English · inherited fromspak
3. English todayspake

From Middle English spak, from Old English spæc, first and third person singular past tense of specan (“to speak”). More at speak.

spake · noun³

Alternative form.

spake · noun⁴

Uncertain. Possibly a variant of spoke, which has a variety of extended senses in English dialects and in Scots (including a tree branch or cutting, a windmill's arm, a birdcage's perch, and a bar for carrying a coffin), though none closely matching this.