spak

From Old English spræc, spæc (“spoke (past tense of speak)”)

spak

1. past tense of speak

From Old English spāca (“spoke (support surrounding the centre of a wheel)”).

spak

1. Alternative form of spoke

spak m (definite singular spaken, indefinite plural spaker, definite plural spakene)

1. a lever

• girspak

• “spak” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

spak m (definite singular spaken, indefinite plural spakar, definite plural spakane)

1. a lever

• girspak

• “spak” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): [spak]

spak

1. simple past tense of speak
   • 1806, Walter Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish border (3rd ed) (1 of 3)‎:

     Then spak the lord, hight Hamilton, And to the nobil king said he, "My sovereign prince, sum counsell take, First at your nobilis, syne at me.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

   • 1905, Robert Louis Stevenson, David Balfour, Second Part‎:

     But whan he spak, it was mair in sorrow than in anger.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

   • 1898, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, Scottish sketches‎:

     And I'll do this messenger justice; he laid down no law to me, he only spak o' the duty laid on his own conscience; but my conscience said 'Amen' to his--that's about it.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

   • 1896, Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, Adventures in Criticism‎:

     Ful wel she song the service divyne, Entuned in hir nose ful semely; And Frensh she spak ful faire and fetisly, After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe, For Frensh of Paris was to hir unknowe..."

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

   • 1919, Frederic Moorman, More Tales of the Ridings‎:

     Them was t' truest words he iver spak, an' shoo would hae been muck-cheap if I'd gien a million pund for her."

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

   • 1857, Various, The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume IV.‎:

     I went unto her mother, and I argued and I fleech'd, I spak o' love and honesty, and mair and mair beseech'd; But she was deaf to a' my grief, she wadna look on me; O poverty!

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

   • 1904, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Merry Men‎:

     Het as he was, he took a kind o' cauld grue in the marrow o' his banes; but up he spak for a' that; an' says he: 'My friend, are you a stranger in this place?'

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

From Old Swedish spaker (“wise, clever”).

spak (comparative spakare, superlative spakast)

1. powerless, tired, obedient, tame, calm, easy, reasonable; of a person or animal that used to resist, but has given up the fight; of calm water

   spak som ett lamm

   tame as a lamb

• foglig
• kuvad
• medgörlig

• spakhet
• spakna
• spakvatten

From Old Swedish spaker (“rod, stick, lever”), from Middle Low German spake, cognate with Danish spag (“spoke”), Dutch spaak (“spoke”), and English spoke.

spak c

1. a lever, a rod, a handle, a stick, a joystick, a control

   nazisterna sitter vid spakarna

   the nazis are in control

• grepp
• handtag
• reglage
• stång

• spaka
• spakblock
• spakmanövrerad
• styrspak
• växelspak

• spak in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)
• spak in Svenska Akademiens ordbok online.