FromMiddle Englishforsaken(“to abandon, desert, repudiate, withdraw allegiance from; to deny, reject, shun; to betray; to divorce (a spouse); to disown; to be false to (one's nature, vows, etc.; to give up, renounce, surrender; to discard; to omit; to decline, refuse, reject; to avoid, escape; to cease, desist; to evade, neglect; to contradict, refute; to depart, leave; to become detached, separate”) [and other forms],[1] fromOld Englishforsacan(“to oppose; to give up, renounce; to decline, refuse”),[2] fromProto-West Germanic*frasakan(“to forsake, renounce”), fromProto-Germanic*fra-(prefix meaning ‘away, off’) +*sakaną(“to charge; to dispute”) (ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*seh₂g-(“to seek out”)). The English word can be analysed asfor- +sake, and is cognate withSaterland Frisianferseeke(“to deny, refuse”),West Frisianfersaakje,Dutchverzaken(“to renounce, forsake”),Middle High Germanversachen(“to deny”),Danishforsage(“to give up”),Swedishförsaka(“to be without, give up”),Norwegianforsake(“to give up, renounce”),Gothic𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌽(sakan,“to quarrel; to rebuke”), .
forsake (third-person singular simple presentforsakes,present participleforsaking,simple pastforsook,past participleforsaken)
- (transitive) Toabandon, togive up, toleave (permanently), torenounce (someone or something).
1594,William Shakespeare,Lucrece (First Quarto)[1], London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […],→OCLC:Such hazard now muſt dotingTarqvin make, / Pawning his honor to obtaine his luſt, / And for himſelfe, himſelfe he muſtforſake.
1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Matthew27:46, column 1:And about the ninth houre,Jeſus cried with a loud voyce, ſaying,Eli, Eli, lamaſabachthani, that is to ſay, My God, my God, why haſt thouforſaken mee?
1617, John Moore, “Of the Miserable Life, and Wretched State of Man, by the Meanes of Sinne and Death”, inA Mappe of Mans Mortalitie. […], […] T[homas] S[nodham] for George Edvvards, […],→OCLC, 1st book (What Death is in It Selfe),page44:He isforſaken of the world, his kinfolk, friends, and acquaintance; his owne members and ſenſes faile him; yea, heeforſaketh (as it were) himſelfe, in that the very vſe of reaſonforſaketh him.
1709,Matthew Prior, “Henry and Emma. […]”, inThe Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published1779,→OCLC,page246:Let Prudence yet obſtruct thy venturous way; / And take good heed, what men will think and ſay: / That beauteous Emma vagrant courſes took; / Her father's houſe and civil lifeforſook; / That, full of youthful blood, and fond of man; / She to the wood-land with an exile ran.
1782,William Cowper, “Hope”, inPoems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […],→OCLC,page176:That conſcience there performs her proper part, / And writes a doomſday ſentence on his heart; /Forſaking, andforſaken of all friends, / He now perceives where earthly pleaſure ends, [...]
1841 May 29,Richard Oastler,The Fleet Papers; Being Letters toThomas Thornhill, Esq. […]; from Richard Oastler, […], volume I, number22, London: W. J. Cleaver, […]; and John Pavey, […],→OCLC,page172:After having opened the flood-gates to free trade, he [William Huskisson] discovered his error; but his nerveforsook him, and he could not close the gates.
1910 January 12,Ameen Rihani,The Book of Khalid, New York, N.Y.:Dodd, Mead and Company, published October 1911,→OCLC, book the first (In the Exchange),page36:There may be nothing noble in renouncing one's country, in abandoning one's home, inforsaking one's people; but is there not something remarkable in this great move one makes?
1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, inTrains Illustrated, London:Ian Allan Publishing,→ISSN,→OCLC, page665:After the junction at Saincaize the lineforsakes the Loire, which it has followed for many miles, for its great tributary the Allier, and runs through St. Germain-des-Fossés, the junction for St. Etienne, and Vichy to Clermont Ferrand.
1998 February 4,Trey Parker,Matt Stone,Dave Polsky, “Damien”, inSouth Park, season 1, episode10:Stan: You've got to fight, Jesus. /Jesus: Why, what's the point? No one believes in me. Everyone put their money on Satan. My fatherforsaked[sic] me, the townforsaked[sic] me. I'm completelyforsook.[sic]
2007,Alexander F[rank] Skutch, “Duty”, inMoral Foundations: An Introduction to Ethics, Mount Jackson, Va.: Axios Press,→ISBN,page447:But whence comes this strange feeling of duty, which goads exceptional individuals to antagonize their neighbors,forsake peace of mind and bodily comfort, jeopardize their fortunes and their lives—to risk, in short, all those advantages which the careful observance of conventional duties would place more securely in their grasp, by strengthening their position in the social order?
2010 January 14,Helene Cooper, “Obama pledges aid to Haiti”, inThe New York Times[2], New York, N.Y.:The New York Times Company,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on16 December 2020:Saying he wanted to "speak directly to the people of Haiti," Mr.[Barack] Obama gave a brief address from the White House that was one of the sharpest displays of emotion of his presidency. "You will not beforsaken. You will not be forgotten," he said, and stopped to compose himself. "In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you."
- (transitive, obsolete) Todecline orrefuse (somethingoffered).
1697,Virgil, “The Third Book of theGeorgics”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […],→OCLC,page106, lines329–330 and 333–336:The youthful Bull muſt wander in the Wood; / Behind the Mountain, or beyond the Flood: / [...] / With two fair Eyes his Miſtreſs burns his Breaſt; / He looks and languiſhes, and leaves his Reſt; /Forſakes his Food, and pining for the Laſs, / Is joyleſs of the Grove, and ſpurns the growing Graſs.
- (transitive, obsolete) Toavoid orshun (someone or something).
1878,Thomas Tusser, “The Authors Beleefe”, inFive Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for theEnglish Dialect Society byTrübner & Co., […],→OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors,Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for theEnglish Dialect Society byTrübner & Co., […],1878,→OCLC, stanza 14,page196:This was that Pascall lambe [i.e.,Jesus] whose loue for vs so stood, / That on the mount of Caluerie, for vs did shed his blood: / Where hanging on the Crosse, no shame he didforsake, / Till death giuen him by pearcing speare, an ende of life did make.
- (transitive, obsolete) Tocausedisappointment to; to beinsufficient for (someone or something).
1791,Oliver Goldsmith, “Of the Humming-bird, and Its Varieties”, inAn History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume V, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr.[John] Nourse, […],→OCLC, part IV (Of Birds of the Sparrow Kind),page320:Theſe birds, on the continent of America, continue to flutter the year round; as their food, which is the honey of flowers, neverforſakes them in thoſe warm latitudes where they are found.
to abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something)
- Arabic:هَجَرَ (ar)(hajara)
- Armenian:լքել (hy)(lkʻel)
- Bulgarian:изоставям (bg)(izostavjam),напускам (bg)(napuskam)
- Catalan:abandonar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin:放棄 /放弃 (zh)(fàngqì),拋棄 /抛弃 (zh)(pāoqì)
- Dutch:verzaken (nl),opgeven (nl)
- Estonian:hülgama (et)
- Finnish:hylätä (fi)
- French:abandonner (fr),renoncer (fr)
- German:aufgeben (de)(transitive),im Stich lassen (de),verlassen (de)
- Gothic:𐌰𐍆𐌵𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌽(afqiþan)
- Greek:απαρνούμαι (el)(aparnoúmai),αποκηρύσσω (el)(apokirýsso),εγκαταλείπω (el)(egkataleípo),παρατώ (el)(parató)
- Ancient:καταλείπω(kataleípō)
- Hungarian:cserben hagy (hu)
- Indonesian:menelantarkan (id)
- Irish:tréig
- Italian:abbandonare (it),rinunciare (it)
- Japanese:放棄する(hōki-suru),見捨てる (ja)(みすてる, misuteru)
- Latin:dēserō (la),relinquō
- Norwegian:forlate (no),forsake (no)
- Ottoman Turkish:براقمق(bırakmak)
- Polish:opuścić (pl),porzucić (pl)
- Portuguese:abandonar (pt)
- Romanian:abandona (ro),lăsa (ro),lepăda (ro),părăsi (ro),renunța (ro)
- Russian:оста́вить (ru) pf(ostávitʹ),оставля́ть (ru) impf(ostavljátʹ),поки́нуть (ru) pf(pokínutʹ),покида́ть (ru) impf(pokidátʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic:trèig
- Serbo-Croatian:napustiti (sh)
- Spanish:abandonar (es),naufragar (es)
- Swedish:försaka (sv),överge (sv)
- Tocharian B:ār-
- Turkish:bırakmak (tr),terketmek (tr),vazgeçmek (tr)
- Woiwurrung:yeaninin
- Yiddish:אַוועקוואַרפֿן(avekvarfn)
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- ^“forsāken,v.”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.
- ^“forsake,v.”, inOED Online
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,1897;“forsake,v.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
- William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “forsake”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
- “forsake”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
Borrowed fromLow Germanvorsaken, fromOld Saxonfarsakan, fromProto-West Germanic*frasakan(“to forsake, renounce”).
forsake (imperativeforsak,present tenseforsaker,simple past and past participleforsakaorforsaket,present participleforsakende)
- togive up,relinquish
- todenounce (the devil)
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,1897;“forsake,v.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.