spae

English

Alternative forms

• spay

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots spae.

Verb

spae (third-person singular simple present spaes, present participle spaeing, simple past and past participle spaed)

1. (Scotland) 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

• spae-craft
• spaeman
• spaewife

Anagrams

• pase, SEPA, Peas, Paes, PEAs, peas, APEs, Sepa, apse, EAPs, EPAs, apes, PESA

Scots

Alternative forms

• spay

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)

1. to prophesy, foretell, predict, tell fortunes
2. to anticipate, wish, have ambitions for

Derived terms

• spae-craft (“the art of predicting the future”)
• spaedom (“prophecy, fortunetelling”)
• spae-folk (“sorcerers, wizards”)
• spaeman (“fortuneteller, diviner, prophet”)
• spaer (“fortuneteller, soothsayer”)
• spae-trade (“the practice of fortune-telling, prophecy”)
• spae-wark (“prognosticating, prophesying, soothsaying”)
• spaewife (“female fortuneteller”)
• spae-woman (“female fortuneteller”)

Descendants

• → English: spae