'Speech' is Proto-Germanic for 'conversation' — from PIE, scattering sounds into the air.
The expression of thoughts and feelings by articulate sounds; a formal address delivered to an audience; the language or dialect of a particular group.
From Old English 'sprǣc' or 'spǣc' (with regional variants), meaning 'speech, discourse, conversation, language.' This is the noun form derived from the strong verb 'sprecan' ('to speak'), from Proto-Germanic *sprēkōn, from Proto-Indo-European *spreg- ('to speak loudly, to scatter, to crackle'). The modern form 'speech' developed through Middle English 'speche,' with the loss of the 'r' reflecting a widespread Old English dialectal variation where 'sprǣc' alternated with 'spǣc.' The PIE
The German cognate 'Sprache' means 'language' (not just 'speech'), so where English says 'the English language,' German says 'die englische Sprache.' The same root that became a word for 'a talk' in English became a word for 'an entire language' in German — a sign of how the same Proto-Germanic root was carved up differently by sister languages.
Words closest in meaning, ranked by similarity