- speech
- O.E. spęc "act of speaking, manner of speaking, formal utterance," variant of spręc, related to sprecan, specan "to speak" (see speak), from P.Gmc. *sprękijo (cf. Ger. Sprache "speech"). The spr- forms were extinct in Eng. by 1200. Meaning "address delivered to an audience" first recorded 1580s. Speechify "talk in a pompous, pontifical way" first recorded 1723. Speechless "astonished" is attested from late 14c.