frainen
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English freġnan (“to inquire, ask”), from fræġn (“question”), originally the preterite of Old English friġnan (“to ask”), from Proto-Germanic *frehnaną (“to ask”), from Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“to ask, woo”). Cognate with Middle Dutch vrāghen (“to ask”), Middle High German vrāgen (“to ask”), Old Danish fregne (“to ask”), Lithuanian prašyti (“to ask”), Polish prosić (“to ask”).
Verb
frainen
- to ask (someone about something), to inquire
- c. 1370–90 William Langland, Piers Plowman, I:
- Þanne I frained hir faire · for hym þat hir made. or Then I frayned at Faith what all that fare meant and who should joust in Jerusalem.
- c. 1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales:
- She fraineth and she prayeth pitously To every Jew that dwelt in thilke place To tell her if her child went ought forby.
- fifteenth century, unknown author, The prophecies of Thomas the Rhymer:
- I frained fast what was his name, Where that he came, from what country.
- c. 1370–90 William Langland, Piers Plowman, I:
- to ask (a question)
Related terms
Descendants
- English: frain
Categories:
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English verbs
- Middle English terms with quotations