spá

See also: Appendix:Variations of "spa"

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse spá (“to foretell, prophesy”), from Proto-Germanic *spahōną, *spēhōną (“to observe”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”). Cognate to Scots spae.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spauː/

  Rhymes: -auː

Noun

spá f (genitive singular spár, nominative plural spár)

1. a prophecy
2. (medicine) a prognosis (a forecast of the future course of a disease or disorder, based on medical knowledge)
3. a weather forecast

Declension

Declension of spá (feminine)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	spá	spáin	spár	spárnar
accusative	spá	spána	spár	spárnar
dative	spá	spánni	spám	spánum
genitive	spár	spárinnar	spáa	spánna

Synonyms

• (prophecy): spádómur
• (prognosis): horfur
• (weather forecast): veðurspá

Derived terms

• stjörnuspá (“horoscope”)

Verb

spá (weak verb, third-person singular past indicative spáði, supine spáð)

1. (transitive, with dative object) to forecast, to predict

Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• spá fyrir (“to tell somebody's fortune”)
• spá í lófa (“to read somebody's palm”)
• spá í

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• spǫ́

Etymology 1

From late Proto-Norse ᛋᛒᛡ (sbᴀ), earlier *ᛊᛈᚨᚺᚢ (*spahu), from Proto-Germanic *spahō.

Noun

spá f (genitive spár)

2. a prophecy

   Synonym: spádómr

   sjaldan hafa spár mínar átt langan aldr

   my prophecies rarely take a long time to come true

Declension

  Declension of spá (strong ō-stem, ar and ir-plurals)

feminine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	spá	spáin	spár, spáir	spárnar, spáirnar
accusative	spá	spána	spár, spáir	spárnar, spáirnar
dative	spá	spánni	spám	spánum
genitive	spár	spárinnar	spá	spánna

Derived terms

• spádómr (“prophecy”)
• Vǫluspá (“the first poem of the Poetic Edda”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: spá

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *spahōną, *spehōną.

Verb

spá (singular past indicative spáði, plural past indicative spáðu, past participle spáðr)

2. (ditransitive, with dative and accusative (or genitive)) to prophesy, to foretell (something to someone)

Conjugation

Conjugation of spá — active (weak class 2)

infinitive	spá
present participle	spáandi
past participle	spáðr
indicative	present	past
1st-person singular	spá	spáða
2nd-person singular	spár	spáðir
3rd-person singular	spár	spáði
1st-person plural	spám	spáðum
2nd-person plural	spáið	spáðuð
3rd-person plural	spá	spáðu
subjunctive	present	past
1st-person singular	spá	spáða
2nd-person singular	spáir	spáðir
3rd-person singular	spái	spáði
1st-person plural	spáim	spáðim
2nd-person plural	spáið	spáðið
3rd-person plural	spái	spáði
imperative	present
2nd-person singular	spá
1st-person plural	spám
2nd-person plural	spáið

Conjugation of spá — mediopassive (weak class 2)

infinitive	spásk
present participle	spándisk
past participle	spázk
indicative	present	past
1st-person singular	spámk	spáðumk
2nd-person singular	spásk	spáðisk
3rd-person singular	spásk	spáðisk
1st-person plural	spámsk	spáðumsk
2nd-person plural	spáizk	spáðuzk
3rd-person plural	spásk	spáðusk
subjunctive	present	past
1st-person singular	spámk	spáðumk
2nd-person singular	spáisk	spáðisk
3rd-person singular	spáisk	spáðisk
1st-person plural	spáimsk	spáðimsk
2nd-person plural	spáizk	spáðizk
3rd-person plural	spáisk	spáðisk
imperative	present
2nd-person singular	spásk
1st-person plural	spámsk
2nd-person plural	spáizk

Descendants

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

References

• spá in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.