forsake
English
Etymology
From Middle English forsaken (“to abandon, desert, repudiate, withdraw allegiance from; to deny, reject, shun; to betray; to divorce (a spouse); to disown; to be false to (one's nature, vows, etc.; to give up, renounce, surrender; to discard; to omit; to decline, refuse, reject; to avoid, escape; to cease, desist; to evade, neglect; to contradict, refute; to depart, leave; to become detached, separate”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English forsacan (“to oppose; to give up, renounce; to decline, refuse”),[2] from Proto-Germanic *frasakaną (“to forsake, renounce”), from *fra- (prefix meaning ‘away, off’) + *sakaną (“to charge; to dispute”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to seek out”)). The English word can be analysed as for- + sake, and is cognate with Danish forsage (“to give up”), Dutch verzaken (“to renounce, forsake”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌽 (sakan, “to quarrel; to rebuke”), Middle High German versachen (“to deny”), Norwegian forsake (“to give up, renounce”), Swedish försaka (“to be without, give up”), West Frisian fersaakje.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /fɔːˈseɪk/, /fə-/
Audio (RP): (file) - Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /fɔɹˈseɪk/
- Rhymes: -eɪk
- Hyphenation: for‧sake
Verb
forsake (third-person singular simple present forsakes, present participle forsaking, simple past forsook, past participle forsaken)
- (transitive) To abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something).
- 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “Of the Administracion of Publyke Baptisme to be Used in the Churche”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC:
- Doeſt thou forſake the deuill and all his workes? / Aunſwere. I forſake them.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto)[1], London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:
- Such hazard now muſt doting Tarqvin make, / Pawning his honor to obtaine his luſt, / And for himſelfe, himſelfe he muſt forſake.
- 1709, Matthew Prior, “Henry and Emma. […]”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published 1779, →OCLC, page 246:
- Let Prudence yet obſtruct thy venturous way; / And take good heed, what men will think and ſay: / That beauteous Emma vagrant courſes took; / Her father's houſe and civil life forſook; / That, full of youthful blood, and fond of man; / She to the wood-land with an exile ran.
- 1782, William Cowper, “Hope”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 176:
- That conſcience there performs her proper part, / And writes a doomſday ſentence on his heart; / Forſaking, and forſaken of all friends, / He now perceives where earthly pleaſure ends, [...]
- 1726, N[athan] Bailey, “To ABANDON”, in An Universal Etymological English Dictionary: […], 3rd edition, London: […] J. Darby, […], →OCLC:
- To ABANDON [...] to forſake utterly, to caſt off; to give up ones ſelf wholly to any prevailing Paſſion or Vice.
- 1910 January 12, Ameen Rihani, The Book of Khalid, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published October 1911, →OCLC, book the first (In the Exchange), page 36:
- There may be nothing noble in renouncing one's country, in abandoning one's home, in forsaking one's people; but is there not something remarkable in this great move one makes?
- 1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 665:
- After the junction at Saincaize the line forsakes the Loire, which it has followed for many miles, for its great tributary the Allier, and runs through St. Germain-des-Fossés, the junction for St. Etienne, and Vichy to Clermont Ferrand.
- 1998 February 4, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Dave Polsky, “Damien”, in South Park, season 1, episode 10:
- (transitive, obsolete) To decline or refuse (something offered).
- 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 106, lines 329–330 and 333–336:
- The youthful Bull muſt wander in the Wood; / Behind the Mountain, or beyond the Flood: / [...] / With two fair Eyes his Miſtreſs burns his Breaſt; / He looks and languiſhes, and leaves his Reſt; / Forſakes his Food, and pining for the Laſs, / Is joyleſs of the Grove, and ſpurns the growing Graſs.
- (transitive, obsolete) To avoid or shun (someone or something).
- 1580, Thomas Tusser, “The Authors Beleefe”, in Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie: […], London: […] Henrie Denham [beeing the assigne of William Seres] […], →OCLC, stanza 14:
- This was that Pascall lambe [i.e., Jesus] whose loue for vs so stood, / That on the mount of Caluerie, for vs did shed his blood: / Where hanging on the Crosse, no shame he did forsake, / Till death giuen him be pearcing speare, an ende of life did make.
- (transitive, obsolete) To cause disappointment to; to be insufficient for (someone or something).
- 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of the Humming-bird, and Its Varieties”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume V, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, part IV (Of Birds of the Sparrow Kind), page 320:
- Theſe birds, on the continent of America, continue to flutter the year round; as their food, which is the honey of flowers, never forſakes them in thoſe warm latitudes where they are found.
Conjugation
- Archaic second-person singular simple present form: forsakest
- Archaic third-person singular simple present indicative form: forsaketh
Derived terms
- forsaken (adjective)
- forsakenly
- forsakenness
- forsaker
- forsaking (noun)
- unforsaken
Translations
to abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something)
References
- ^ “forsāken, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “forsake, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1897; “forsake, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
- “forsake”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “forsake”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Norwegian Bokmål
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Low German vorsaken, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *frasakaną. Cognate with Danish forsage, Swedish försaka, English forsake, Dutch verzaken.
Verb
forsake (imperative forsak, present tense forsaker, simple past and past participle forsaka or forsaket, present participle forsakende)
- to give up, relinquish, forsake
- to denounce (the devil)
Derived terms
References
- “forsake” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *pro-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *seh₂g-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms prefixed with for-
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪk
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English class 6 strong verbs
- Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from Low German
- Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål verbs