withspeak

Etymology

This word revives Middle English withspeken (“to speak against, contradict”), itself from Old English wiþsprecan (“to contradict, gainsay, revile”), going back to Proto-West Germanic *wiþisprekan and made up of with- and speak. It is cognate with Old Frisian withspreka (“to disagree”), Saterland Frisian wierspreeke (“to contradict”), West Frisian wjersprekke (“to contradict”), Dutch weerspreken (“to contradict”) and German widersprechen (“to contradict, gainsay”).