spá

See also: Appendix:Variations of "spa"

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spauː/

  Rhymes: -auː

Etymology 1

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.

Noun

spá f (genitive singular spár, nominative plural spár)

1. a prophecy

   Synonym: spádómur

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

   Synonym: horfur

3. a weather forecast

   Synonym: veðurspá

Declension

	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

Declension of spá (feminine)

Derived terms

• stjörnuspá (“horoscope”)

Etymology 2

Verb

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

1. to forecast, to predict [with dative]

Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• spá fyrir (“to tell someone's fortune”)
• spá í lófa (“to read someone'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. to prophesy, to foretell [with dative ‘to someone’, along with accusative or genitive ‘something’]

Conjugation

Conjugation of spá — active (weak class 2)

infinitive	spá
present participle	spáandi
past participle	spáðr
	indicative			subjunctive
	present	past		present	past
1st person singular	spá	spáða		spá	spáða
2nd person singular	spár	spáðir		spáir	spáðir
3rd person singular	spár	spáði		spái	spáði
1st person plural	spám	spáðum		spáim	spáðim
2nd person plural	spáið	spáðuð		spáið	spáðið
3rd person plural	spá	spáðu		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			subjunctive
	present	past		present	past
1st person singular	spámk	spáðumk		spámk	spáðumk
2nd person singular	spásk	spáðisk		spáisk	spáðisk
3rd person singular	spásk	spáðisk		spáisk	spáðisk
1st person plural	spámsk	spáðumsk		spáimsk	spáðimsk
2nd person plural	spáizk	spáðuzk		spáizk	spáðizk
3rd person plural	spásk	spáðusk		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: spa
  • Scots: spae, spay
    • → English: spae

Further reading

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “spá”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 397; also available at the Internet Archive