designate vs speak of

designate

verb
  • To mark out and make known; to point out; to indicate; to show; to distinguish by marks or description 

  • To indicate or set apart for a purpose or duty; — with to or for; to designate an officer for or to the command of a post or station. 

  • To call by a distinctive title; to name. 

adj
  • Designated; appointed; chosen. 

  • Used after a role title to indicate that the person has been selected but has yet to take up the role. 

speak of

verb
  • To bespeak; show; indicate; foretell; suggest. 

How often have the words designate and speak of occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )