scurnen

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Unclear; there are multiple possibilities, though none is entirely convincing:

  • A borrowing from Old French eschurnir, escornir, variant of escharnir, possibly from a zero-grade variant of that verb's Germanic etymon. However, these forms may have been reborrowed from Middle English scornen (“to scorn”) or even scurnen itself.
  • A blend of scornen +‎ schonen (“to shun”) and/or spurnen (“to trip”).
  • An adaptation of scornen as it underwent interdialectal borrowing into Northern Middle English: the phontactically non-Northern sequence /ɔːrn/ would have been adapted as /oːrn/ before either undergoing the Northern change of /oː/ to /yː/ or the same development to /u/ as in Scots curn (“corn”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈskurnən/, /ˈskyːrnən/ (unclear; either is possible), /ˈʃ-/ (variation between /ˈʃ-/ and /ˈsk-/ can be postulated regardless of the etymology adopted)

Verb

scurnen (third-person singular simple present scurneth, present participle scurnende, scurnynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle scurned) (chiefly Northern)

  1. To be afraid or scared (to do something).
  2. (rare) To sidestep or dodge an attack.

Conjugation

Conjugation of scurnen (weak in -ed)
infinitive (to) scurnen, scurne
present tense past tense
1st-person singular scurne scurned
2nd-person singular scurnest scurnedest
3rd-person singular scurneth scurned
subjunctive singular scurne
imperative singular —
plural1 scurnen, scurne scurneden, scurnede
imperative plural scurneth, scurne —
participles scurnynge, scurnende scurned

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

References

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