means The act of speaking aloud, or a formal set of words delivered to an audience.

from From Old English 'sprǣc' (later 'spǣc'), the noun standing beside the verb 'sprecan,' to speak — the same Germanic family that gives German 'Sprache.' Notice the lost 'r': early English speakers carried it (sprecan, spræc) before it quietly fell away, leaving the smoother 'speech' and 'speak' we use now.