forleosan

Forms

forlēosan (strong class 2v; third-person singular present forlīest, past singular forlēas, past plural forluron)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fraleusan, from Proto-Germanic *fraleusaną (“to lose”), made of *fra- and *leusaną (“to lose”).^[1][2] The compound is Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (fraliusan), Old Frisian forliāsa, Old Saxon farliosan and Old High German firliosan, with Dutch verliezen and German verlieren after them.^[3][4] The simplex is not found on its own in Old English: Köbler marks lēosan with an asterisk.^[5]

Kroonen gives the PIE verb as *léus-e-,^[3] and Orel relates it to the root Proto-Indo-European *lew- of Ancient Greek λύω (lúō, “to loosen”) and Sanskrit लुनाति (lunā́ti, “to cut”).^[4] Köbler has the same root, “to cut, separate, loosen”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Pastoral Care (890×897), on the ruler who is puffed up in his mind “& ðonne ðurh ðæt selflice his godan weorc forleose” “and then through that self-conceit loses his good work”.^[7][8] The Parker Chronicle has it soon after in the annal for 81, where Titus says “þæt he þone dæg forlure þe he noht to gode on ne gedyde” “that he lost the day on which he did nothing good”.^[9][8][10]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to lose, with the thing lost in the accusative or, especially in verse, in the dative: Beowulf has dome forleas “lost glory”.^[10][11] In the second sense it is to destroy or ruin, in Genesis of God destroying every living body in the Flood, and morally of souls lost through broken oaths.^[12][10] It glosses Latin “perdere”, “disperdere” and “praevaricari”.^[6] In the laws the past participle is used of a lost case: sy his spæce forloren.^[10][13]

It lived on as Middle English forlesen, to forfeit or lose.^[14] The verb is not recorded after the seventeenth century, but its past participle survives as the English word forlorn.^[15]

Timeline

• 890×897 – forleose “lose” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[7][8]
• s. ix/x – forlure in the Parker Chronicle, annal 81.^[9][8]
• s. x/xi – dome forleas in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][11]
• a1121 – Middle English forluron in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. to lose, let go, be deprived of.^[12][6]
2. to destroy, ruin, bodily or morally.^[10][17]

Word family

• forloren
• forlorennes

Descendants

• Middle English forlesen (→ English forlese; English forlorn)^[1]

Related words

• losian
• lēas

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 334
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 243
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *léosan
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. forléosan
7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
8. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 83
10. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 248
11. ^ a b Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. for-lēosan
12. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 314
13. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 77
14. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344
17. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 86