Sc. Also 5–6 spay-, spaman. [a. ON. spámann (nom. -maðr; MSw. spāmann, Sw. spâman, Norw. spaamann, Da. -mand), f. spá SPAE v.] A prophet, soothsayer, fortune-teller, wizard.
c. 1480. Henryson, Orpheus & Eurydice, 436. This Theseus … sett his entencion To fynd the craft of diuinacion, And lerit it vnto the spamen all.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, IV. ii. 29. O walaway! of spamen and diuinis The blind myndis.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. 121. The spaymen said, thir prodigies signifyit gret damage appering to Romanis.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., III. ii. Spae-men! the truth of a’ their saws I doubt.
1790. Shirrefs, Poems, 124. I never, a’ my days, Had meikle faith in spaemen, or their says.
1830. Scott, Demonol., ix. 315. Pretending … to possess the power of a spaeman.
1867. Pearson, Hist. Eng., I. 32, note. Either the ‘spae man’ of the district or the priest of an imported religion.
attrib. 1513. Douglas, Æneid, VI. iii. 77. Praying thus, eftir the spamen werd.
