forspeak

/fɔːˈspiːk/

Etymology

From Middle English forspeken (“to bewitch”), from Old English forspecan, forsprecan (“to speak in vain; to speak amiss; to denounce; to deny”); analysable as for- + speak.

Why this word is great

FORSPEAK — [Verb] To injure or cause bad luck through immoderate praise or flattery; to bewitch or charm; to forbid or prohibit. From Middle English forspeken ("to bewitch"), from Old English forspecan, forsprecan ("to speak in vain; to speak amiss; to denounce; to deny"), analysable as for- ("against, wrongly") + speak ("to talk"). Unlike "bless" (which invokes grace) or "permit" (which grants passage), forspeak is language as curse, as sabotage—the careless compliment that dooms a performance, the honeyed words that mask a hex, or the stern decree that bars all hope. It is the superstition of actors avoiding Macbeth’s name backstage, the parent’s anxious knock on wood after praising a child’s health, and the way some silences feel like spells. Words are never just words.

verb

To injure or cause bad luck through immoderate praise or flattery; to affect with the curse of an evil tongue, which brings ill luck upon all objects of its praise.“One is said to forspeak another, when he so commends him as to have a supposed influence in making him practically belie the commendation. If one highly praises a child for sweetness of temper, and the child soon after betrays ill humour; the person, who bestowed the praise, is said to have forspokin the bairn.”
To bewitch, to charm.“How are my powres fore-spoke? what strange distaste is this?”
To forbid, to prohibit; to oppose.“Thou haſt foreſpoke my being in theſe warres, / And ſay'ſt, it is not fit.”
To say bad things about; to slander.“A mischiefe take thy tatling tongue, the Raven answerde tho. / Thy vaine forspeaking moves me not. And so he forth did go [...]”