Obs. Also 5 Sc., 6–7 specht, 6 speicht, 6–7 speight, 7 spight. [Either repr. an unrecorded OE. *speht (*speoht), or a. MDu. or MLG. specht (Du. specht, WFris. specht, spjucht), = OS. speth (sic), OHG. speht (MHG. speht, speiht, G. specht): cf. Da. spætte, Norw. spetta, Sw. hackspett, and OF. espoit, espois (from Germanic). The ultimate affinities of the word are uncertain.
Speckt in Johnson (1755) is due to a misprint in Ainsworth (1736), s.v. Picus.]
The green woodpecker, Gecinus viridis. (Cf. SPECK sb.3 and WOODSPITE.)
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 334. The Specht was a purcevant, provde till apper, That raid befor the empriour.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. iv. 91. Ane byrd … Wyth sprutlit wyngis, clepit a Speicht wyth ws, Quhilk in Latyne hecht Pycus Marcyus.
1552. Elyot, Picus martius, a birde:… of this bee three kyndes, the fyrst a specht, the seconde a hecway, the third … is not in Englande.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. IV. Handicrafts, 157. Eve, walking forth about the Forrests, gathers Speights’, Parrots’, Peacocks’, Estrich’ scatt’red feathers.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 278. Some little birds there are also that haue hooked clees, as the Spights.
1656. W. Du Gard, trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 143. 43. The Gnat-snapper used to feed on figs; and the Speight on Bees.
