Etymograph

English

frain

Frain comes from Middle English fraynen ‘to ask’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *preḱ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*preḱ-‘to ask, woo’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*frehnaną‘to ask’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fregnan‘to ask’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150freġnan‘to ask, inquire, learn’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fraynen‘to ask’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1522frain

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*preḱ-‘to ask, woo’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*frehnaną‘to ask’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fregnan‘to ask’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150freġnan‘to ask, inquire, learn’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fraynen‘to ask’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1522frain

Earliest quotation: 1522, John Skelton: “Ones yet agayne Of you I wolde frayne, Why…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- ‘to ask, woo’

prayer, pray, arrogant, arrogance, precarious, derogatory, prerogative, postulate, deprecation, derogation, 25 more

Today it means

verb To ask, inquire.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- / frain

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