folwen

Middle English

Alternative forms

• folewe, folowe, folwe
• folȝen, folȝien, folhe, folhen, folien (Early Middle English); folhin (AB language); follȝhenn (Ormulum)
• ffolwe, follow, folue, folwyn (Late Middle English)
• filȝen (Essex); volȝy (Kent); ffolow, filghe, filigh, foloȝe, folu, fulu, fylloy (Northern); folwie, volewen (West Midland)

Etymology

From Old English folgian, from Proto-West Germanic *folgēn, from Proto-Germanic *fulgāną.

Forms such as filigh and folien are due to conflation with Old English fylġan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔlwən/, /ˈfɔlɔu̯ən/
• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔliu̯ən/, /ˈvɔliu̯ən/ (especially Kent, Southern, South Midland)
• IPA^(key): /ˈfilɔu̯/, /ˈfil(i)x/, /ˈfilɔx/, /ˈfɛl-/ (Essex, Northern, Northeast Midland)
• IPA^(key): /ˈvɔli.ən/ (early Southern)

Verb

folwen (third-person singular simple present folweth, present participle folwende, folwynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle folwed)

1. (ambitransitive) To come after or succeed:
   1. To follow; to succeed spatially.
   2. To be subsequent; to succeed temporally.
2. (transitive) To adhere or be attached to:
   1. To move in the path of.
   2. To mimic or emulate: to take as an example.
   3. To attend upon; to serve or work for.
3. (transitive) To be subject or subordinate to:
   1. To comply or adhere to a directive (or rarely, opinion)
   2. To be connected to or depend upon.
   3. To correspond to or be a consequence of.
4. (ambitransitive) To continue or persist.
5. (transitive) To look or search for; to try to find.
6. (transitive) To harass (usually legally or of a disease)
7. (transitive, rare) To get or achieve.

Conjugation

Conjugation of folwen (weak in -ed)

infinitive	(to) folwen, folwe
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	folwe	folwed
2nd-person singular	folwest	folwedest
3rd-person singular	folweth	folwed
subjunctive singular	folwe
imperative singular		—
plural1	folwen, folwe	folweden, folwede
imperative plural	folweth, folwe	—
participles	folwynge, folwende	folwed, yfolwed

¹ Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Related terms

• folwere

Descendants

• English: follow
• Middle Scots: folȝe, folow, falow
  • Scots: follae

References

• “folwen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• McIntosh, Angus; Samuels, M[ichael] L.; Benskin, Michael (2013) [1986], Michael Benskin, Margaret Laing, editors, eLALME: A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English‎^[1], Edinburgh: Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics; revised November 2024.