ᛋᛒᛡ

Proto-Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *spahō, either as a feminine noun meaning ‘prophecy, prediction’, or as an inflected form of Proto-Germanic *spahōną (“I predict, I foresee”). Since the Old Norse verb spá can take the genitive, it can not be said which this word is. Ultimately, however, the word is derived from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”).

A more primitive Scandinavian form should have been *ᛊᛈᚨᚺᚢ (*spahu). In its attested form, the word is young enough to have undergone loss of medial /-h-/, as well as syncope, and possibly even u-umlaut /a/ > /ǫ/.

Noun

ᛋᛒᛡ (sbᴀ /spā/) f

1. prediction, prophecy
   • 6th century, inscription on the Björketorp stone:

     ᚢᚦᛡᚱᛡᛒᛡᛋᛒᛡ
     uþArAbAsbA

     ūþarᵃβa spā

     [a] prophecy of misfortune

Descendants

• Old Norse: spá, spǫ́
  • Icelandic: spá

Verb

ᛋᛒᛡ (sbᴀ /spā/)

1. I predict, I foretell
   • 6th century, inscription on the Björketorp stone:

     ᚢᚦᛡᚱᛡᛒᛡᛋᛒᛡ
     uþArAbAsbA

     ūþarᵃβa spā

     I predict misfortune

Descendants

• Old Norse: spá
  • Icelandic: spá
  • Faroese: spáa
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: spå
  • Old Swedish: spā
    • Swedish: spå
  • Old Danish: spaa
    • Danish: spå
  • → Northern Middle English: spa
    • Scots: spae, spay
      • → English: spae