A speech or words spoken beforehand; an introduction or preamble to a main address.
From 'fore-' + 'speech' (Old English 'spæc,' from 'sprecan'). Compounds with 'fore-' and parts of communication were common in Middle English for describing preliminary remarks.
Forespeech is what we now call an 'opening statement' or 'preamble'—but the old word captures something the new ones miss: the power of setting expectations before the main event.
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