scornen

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Northern French escarnir and central Old French escharnir,[1] from Late Latin *scarnīre, *scernīre, of disputed origin. Derivation or influence from Old French or Middle French escornir (“to dehorn”, figuratively "to abase") is unlikely since that verb's figurative senses appear significantly later than scornen[2][3] while failing to entirely approach its semantics. Compare scurnen.

Notes on vocalism

While the vocalism in -o- has been considered "not easy to account for",[2] "not satisfyingly explained",[3] and "obscure",[4] it is probably because the word was borrowed with medial /-ɑːrn-/ (as implied by Orm's skarnenn and early forms of the noun scorn with -a-) before the Early Middle English raising of /ɑː/ to /ɔː/ and then participated in it when it occurred.[5] Early Modern orthoepists usually give the reflex of Middle English short /ɔ/ in this word,[6] but that could be from later shortening before /rn/ or due to the analogy of scornere (with trisyllabic shortening) or scornful(ly) (with shortening before three consecutive consonants); similarly, Northern Middle English (and thus Scots and modern Northern English dialectal) forms with -o- can be explained as borrowings from more southerly dialects. In any case, the existence of pronunciations with /ɔː/ is confirmed by the form scoarnes in the Ancrene Wisse.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈskɔːrnən/, /ˈskɔrnən/, /ˈʃɔːrnən/, /ˈʃɔrnən/
  • IPA(key): /ˈskɑːrnən/, /ˈʃɑːrnən/ (Early Middle English)

Verb

scornen (third-person singular simple present scorneth, present participle scornende, scornynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle scorned)

  1. To despise or revile; to view contemptuously.
  2. To abuse or mistreat; to behave badly towards:
    1. To scoff or mock; to show contempt for.
      • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎[3], published c. 1410, Luke 18:32, page 38v, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:
        foꝛ he ſchal be bitraied to heþene men .· ⁊ he ſchal be ſcoꝛned ·⁊ ſcourgid ⁊ biſpat […]
        "So he'll be handed over to the pagans, and he'll be mocked, scourged, and spat on […] "
    2. To slander or defame; to speak ill of.
    3. (religion) To blaspheme; to insult God.
  3. To trick or fool; to practice deception upon.
  4. To reject, eschew, or avoid.

Conjugation

Conjugation of scornen (weak in -ed)
infinitive (to) scornen, scorne
present tense past tense
1st-person singular scorne scorned
2nd-person singular scornest scornedest
3rd-person singular scorneth scorned
subjunctive singular scorne
imperative singular —
plural1 scornen, scorne scorneden, scornede
imperative plural scorneth, scorne —
participles scornynge, scornende scorned, yscorned

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

Descendants

  • English: scorn
  • Middle Scots: scorn, scorne

References

  1. ^ “scō̆rnen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Scorn”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VIII, Part 2 (S–Sh), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 243, column 2.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “*skirnjan”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 17: Germanismes: S–Z, page 121: “Das o dieser formen ist noch nicht befriedigend erklärt. Einfluss von cornu, was an sich nahe läge, ist schwerig, weil die entsprechende bed. für dessen ablt. im fr. erst viel spater aufritt als e. scorn mit -o-, s. cornu I 4 a. β”
  4. ^ Onions, C.T., editor (1982) [1966], “scorn”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, page 799, column 2
  5. ^ Jordan, Richard (1974)  Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum. Series Practica; 218)‎[1], The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., →DOI, § 220, page 201.
  6. ^ Dobson, E. J. (1957) English pronunciation 1500-1700‎[2], second edition, volume II: Phonology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1968, →OCLC, § 13, page 484.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.