spake

Etymology 1

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”).

adj

1. (obsolete) Quiet; tame.
2. (obsolete) Ready; prompt.

Etymology 2

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

verb

1. (archaic) simple past of speak
   But at last his heart changed,—and rising one morning with the rosy dawn, he went before the sun, and spake thus unto it: Thou great star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shinest! 1909 [1883–1885], “Zarathustra's Prologue”, in Thomas Common, transl., Thus Spake Zarathustra, translation of Also sprach Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche