spell [OE] In Old English spel meant ‘story, speech’, a sense still hidden in the word *gospel. By the late 16th century this had become the right speech to use when invoking magic powers, via the Late Middle English nightspell, special words to protect you at night. Meanwhile the verb had developed from ‘speak, tell’ to read out loud with difficulty, or ‘spell out’ words, and from this the sense to use the right letters in a word.