frain
See also: Frain
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English fraynen, freinen (“to ask”), from Old English freġnan, friġnan (“to ask, inquire, learn”), from Proto-West Germanic *fregnan, from Proto-Germanic *frehnaną (“to ask”), from Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“to ask, woo”).
Cognates:
Cognate with Icelandic fregna (“to ask, inquire”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌽𐌰𐌽 (fraihnan, “to ask”). Related also to Dutch vragen (“to ask”), German fragen (“to ask”), Norwegian frega (“to ask”), Latin precor (“ask, beseech”), Sanskrit पृच्छति (pṛccháti, “to ask”), Lithuanian prašyti (“to request”), Polish prosić (“to request”).
Verb
[edit]frain (third-person singular simple present frains, present participle fraining, simple past and past participle frained)
- (transitive, dialectal or obsolete) To ask, inquire.
- 1522, John Skelton, Why come ye nat to Courte:
- Ones yet agayne Of you I wolde frayne, Why come ye nat to court ?
- 1555, Henry Parker, The Exposition and Declaration of the Psalme Deus ultionum dominus, XXVIII.:
- Theyr myndes disdayne: Gods actes to frain [...]
- c. 1574, William Strothers (clerk), Deposition of Thomas Hunter, in "The Will of Humphrey Hopper", in Depositions and Other Ecclesiastical Proceedings from the Courts of Durham: Extending from 1311 to the Reign of Elizabeth:
- And so answerd ever when so the said Umphra frayned the said Thomas; and otherwaies this examinate never hard the said Thomas speak anything of himself to any bodye, duringe the spaic of an hower or more, that this examinate was with the said Thomas.
- 1592, William Warner, Albion's England. Book VII:
- I, musing, frain'd her meaning: she / Her meaning thus did tell.
- 1803, William Stuart Rose, transl., Amadis de Gaula, A Poem in Three Books, page 160:
- Nor far had spurr'd the warrior, ere a crew Of hinds and sun-burnt woodmen met his view, Frayn'd by the knight, they told, a beauteous maid, Who, loudly shrieking, call'd on heav'n for aid, [...]
- 1807, Samuel Henshall, translating "The Durham Book" (c. 900); The Gothic Gospel of Saint Matthew:
- But Jesus stood before the count; yea the count frayned him, quothing, thou is king of the Jews? but Jesus quoth to him, thou quoths.
Derived terms
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]Middle English
[edit]Verb
[edit]frain
- Alternative form of fraynen
Old French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Noun
[edit]frain oblique singular, m (oblique plural frainz, nominative singular frainz, nominative plural frain)
- bit (equipment placed in a horse's mouth)
Descendants
[edit]- French: frein
Scots
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English fraynen, frainen, freinen, from Old English freġnan (“to ask”) and Old Norse fregna (“to ask”), from Proto-Germanic *frehnaną.
Verb
[edit]frain (third-person singular simple present frains, present participle frainin, simple past fraint, past participle fraint)
- (transitive) to ask, ask about, ask for
- to enquire
- (intransitive) to make inquiry
- to request
Related terms
[edit]Welsh
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]frain
- Soft mutation of brain.
Mutation
[edit]Categories:
- 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-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English dialectal terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English verbs
- Old French terms inherited from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns
- Scots terms inherited from Middle English
- Scots terms derived from Middle English
- Scots terms derived from Old English
- Scots terms derived from Old Norse
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Scots lemmas
- Scots verbs
- Scots transitive verbs
- Scots intransitive verbs
- Welsh terms with IPA pronunciation
- Welsh non-lemma forms
- Welsh mutated nouns
- Welsh soft-mutation forms