Middle English Dictionary Entry
forlīnen v.
Entry Info
| Forms | forlīnen v. Also forling(n)e, forleynen, forloinen. |
| Etymology | OF forlignier. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
To go astray from one's inherited virtue, become degenerate; ~ from, to deviate from (the virtues of an ancestor); ben forlined of (oute of), to be degenerate from.
Associated quotations
- c1450(1410) Walton Boeth.(Lin-C 103)p.154 : If any good in gentilnesse be, It is þat nature gentil men enclyneþ, As fro þe vertues and þe honeste Of þaire auncetres þat þei noght forleyneth.
- c1450(1410) Walton Boeth.(Lin-C 103)p.155 : Fro hym [i.e. God] lo ye proceden principallye, Whos gentilnesse þer may no wight forlyne, But if he norische vices wickedlye And fro his kyndly birthe þat he declyne.
- c1450(1438) GLeg.Laurence (GiL110) (Eg 876) 554/68 : What is in me that hathe displesed to thy faderhode? Hast thou preued me to go oute of kynde or forlingne [Hrl 630, Lamb 72: forlinge; L Numquid degenerem me probasti]?
- a1500 Chartier Quad.(2) (Rwl A.338)148/25 : O ye men .., femynyne of coragis and of maneres, ferr from vertue, and forlynyd owte of [CQ(1): forloyned of] the constaunce of your forefadirs.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Editor of GLeg.Laurence: "Hast...forlingne: mas tu veu deslinager P2, Numquid degenerem me probasti LgA; GiL may be rendered: 'Have you found me unnatural or degenerate?' E forlingne, H1L forlinge belong to MED forlinen, 'degenerate'..; D forlyvinge belongs under MED forliven, sense 2, also 'degenerate', whose two examples are from Chaucer's Boethius."