Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

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for-specan

  • verb [ strong ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
for-specan, for-sprecan; p. -sp[r]æc, pl. -sp[r]ǽcon; pp. -sp[r]ecen.
to speak against, speak ill of, denounce
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  • Forsprecað hí foran tó ðisum folce, þæt 'swá hraðe swá hí becumað tó ðyssere byrig, gehseftað hí,' Hml. Th. ii. 494, 10. [Fra steven of forspekand

    a voce obloquentis,

      Ps. 43, 17.
    ]
to misrepresent a case,
state wrongly
Show examples

  • Ne sý forspecen ne forswigod ... ꝥ wé þǽrtó lustlice fón

    do not let the fact be stated wrongly or passed over in silence, ... that we gladly accept it,

      Ll. Th. i. 238, 15.
to lose that which is the subject of a suit
Show examples

  • Cnut cyng lét ðæt land intó Crístes cyrcean ... tó ðám forewearde ðæt Eádsige hit hæbbe his lífes tíman ... and hé hit ne mæg náðer gifan ne syllan, ne forspecan ne forspillan (

    lose it by a suit at law or by forfeiture;

    cf. nec cogi debet rectum ejus forspeken nec forspillen (cf. perdere vel forisfacere placitum,
      561, 24), Ll. Th. i. 562, 1) út of ðám hálgan minstre, C. D. vi. 190, 17. v. for-spillan;
to speak to no purpose, waste one's words, v. for-specan
in Dict.
Etymology
[O. H. Ger. fer-sprehhan repudiare, abnuere, renuntiare.]
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “for-specan.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/45978.

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Word-wheel

  • for-specan, v.

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