SPAY, SPE, _sb._ prophecy, omen, augury. Dalr., II, 5, 8; Isaiah, XLVII, 12. O.N. _spá_, a prophecy. _Vǫluspá_, the vala's prophecy, M.E. _spa_.
SPAEQUEAN, _sb._ fortune teller, spaewife. Isaiah, XLVII. O.N. _spákona_, a woman who spaes. The compound may, however, be Sco.
SPALE, _sb._ lath, chip, splinter. R.R., 1979; Burns, 132, 114. Norse _spela_, _spila_, _speil_, a splinter, a chip, also _spol_. O.N. _spölr_, a rail, bar, lattice work, sometimes means "a short piece of anything." Cu. _speal_. The O.E. word is _speld._ Cp. Fr. _espalier_.
SPENN, _vb._ to button, to lace. Jamieson. O.N. _spenna_, to clasp. Norse _spenna_, lace, _spenne_ sb. a buckle, Dan. _spænde_, Sw. _spänne_, to lace. The O.E. word is _spannan_, without umlaut. The meaning as well as the form of the Sco. word is Scand.
SPRACK, _adj._ lively, animated. Jamieson. O.N. _sprǽkr_, quick, strong, sprightly, Norse _spræk_, spry, nimble, Dan. _spræk_, M.E. _sprac_. This is one of a few undoubted Scand. words found in South Eng. diall.
SPIL, _sb._ a stake. Douglas, III, 250, 16. O.N. *_spílr_, variant of _spölr_. Cp. Norse _spil_, in the diall. of Western Norway. See _spale_.
SPRATTLE, _vb._ to walk through mud, to scramble through wet and muddy places as the result of which one's clothes become soiled. Burns, 10, 11, 3; also 68, 1, 3. O.N. _spretta_, Norse _spretta_ to spurt, sputter, splash, Sw. _spritte_. On assimilation of _nt_, cp. _sprent_. The _l_ is frequentative. Exhibits characteristic Sco. change of _e_ to _a_ before t. Cp. _wat_ for _wet_, _swat_ for _sweat_.
SPRENT, _vb._ to start, spring. Wallace, N, 23. O. Dan. _sprenta_, spurt out, spring, start, O.N. _spretta_, Norse _spretta_, shoot forth, spurt. In Cu. a pen is said to _sprent_ when it scatters the ink over the paper. So in Norse. The Sco. word agrees more closely in meaning with the Norse than with the Dan. but exhibits E. Scand. non-assimilation of _nt_ to _tt_ which took place in Norse before 1000. Sw. diall. which otherwise have many W. Scand. characteristics have both _sprenta_ and _spritta_. The word _sprætte_ also occurs in later Dan.
SPRENT, _sb._ a spring, as the back spring of a knife. Wallace, IV, 238. See _sprent_, vb.
STAKKER, STACKER, _vb._ to stagger. Brace, II, 42; Gol. and Gaw., II, 25. O.N. _stakra_. See B-S. under M.E. _stakerin_. Cp. Norse _stakra_, to stagger, to fall.