spae
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /speɪ/
- (Scotland) IPA(key): /spe/
- Rhymes: -eɪ
Verb
spae (third-person singular simple present spaes, present participle spaeing, simple past and past participle spaed)
- (Scotland, archaic) To divine; foretell.
- 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 242:
- A mermaid from the water rose,
And spaed Sir Sinclair ill.
Derived terms
Anagrams
Scots
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Northern Middle English spā, from Old Norse spá (“to foretell, prophesy”), from Proto-Germanic *spahōną, *spehōną (“to observe”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”). Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål spå.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [spe]
- (Insular Scots) IPA(key): [spoː]
Verb
spae (third-person singular simple present spaes, present participle spaein, simple past spaed, past participle spaed)
Derived terms
- spae-craft (“the art of predicting the future”)
- spae-folk (“sorcerers, wizards”)
- spae-trade (“the practice of fortune-telling, prophecy”)
- spae-wark (“prognosticating, prophesying, soothsaying”)
- spae-woman (“female fortuneteller”)
- spaedom (“prophecy, fortunetelling”)
- spaeman (“fortuneteller, diviner, prophet”)
- spaer (“fortuneteller, soothsayer”)
- spaewife (“female fortuneteller”)
Descendants
- → English: spae