speken
Middle English
Etymology
From Old English specan, from earlier sprecan, from Proto-West Germanic *sprekan, from Proto-Germanic *sprekaną.
Verb
speken (third-person singular simple present speketh, present participle spekynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative spak, past participle speken)
- to speak (communicate using the voice)
- a. 1382, John Wycliffe, “Psalms 108:1-3”, in Wycliffe's Bible:
- The title of the hundrid and eiȝtthe ſalm. To victorye, the ſalm of Dauid. / God, holde thou not ſtille my preiſyng; for the mouth of the ſynner, and the mouth of the gileful man is openyd on me. / Thei ſpaken ayens me with a gileful tunge, and thei cumpassiden me with wordis of hatrede; and fouȝten ayens me with out cauſe.
- The title of the one hundred and eighth psalm: "To Victory; the Psalm of David" / God; don't hold still my praising, as the mouths of the sinners and the mouths of the guilty have opened against me. / They spoke against me with a guilty tongue, they acted against me with words of hatred, and they fought against me without justification.
- 14th Century, Chaucer, General Prologue
- And whan that he wel dronken hadde the wyn,
Than wolde he speke no word but Latyn.- And when he had drunk all the wine
He would not speak a word other than Latin
- And when he had drunk all the wine
- And whan that he wel dronken hadde the wyn,
Conjugation
Conjugation of speken (strong class 5/4)
| infinitive | (to) speken, speke | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | speke | spak, spek | |
| 2nd-person singular | spekest, spext | speke, spake, spoke, spak, spek | |
| 3rd-person singular | speketh, spekth | spak, spek | |
| subjunctive singular | speke | speke1, spake1, spoke1 | |
| imperative singular | — | ||
| plural2 | speken, speke | speken, speke, spaken, spake, spoken, spoke | |
| imperative plural | speketh, speke | — | |
| participles | spekynge, spekende | (y)speken, (y)speke, (y)spoken, (y)spoke | |
1Replaced by the indicative in later Middle English.
2Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.
Derived terms
References
- “spēken, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
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