Etymograph

English

forsay

Forsay comes from Middle English forsayen ‘to renounce’, from Old English forseċġan ‘to accuse, accuse falsely, slander, speak…’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sagjaną ‘to say’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sagjaną1‘to say’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*saggjan2‘to say’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150seċġan3‘to mention, talk about’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150forseċġan4‘to accuse, accuse falsely, slander, speak about, discourse on’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500forsayen4‘to renounce’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1579forsay4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *saggjan
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English secgan
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English forsecgan
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English forsay
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1579, Immeritô pseudonym; Edmund Spenser, Maye. Ægloga Quinta.: “worldly sovenance he must forsay”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sagjanąWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *saggjan‘to say’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*saggjanWiktionary, Old English secgan‘to say’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150seċġanWiktionary, Old English forsecgan‘to mention, talk about’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150forseċġanWiktionary, English forsay‘to accuse, accuse falsely, slander, speak about, discourse on’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500forsayenWiktionary, English forsay‘to renounce’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1579forsayWiktionary, English forsay. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1579, Immeritô pseudonym; Edmund Spenser, Maye. Ægloga Quinta.: “worldly sovenance he must forsay”

Formed from for- + say

Proto-Indo-European *pro- ‘before, in front of’

Proto-Germanic *fra- ‘off, away’

Proto-West Germanic *fra- ‘forms verbs with the sense of "away from" or…’

English for-

Proto-Germanic *sagjaną ‘to say’

Proto-West Germanic *saggjan ‘to say’

Old English seċġan ‘to say, speak’

Middle English saien

English say

Linked words

through Old English seċġan ‘to mention, talk about’

say, saith, 1 more

Today it means

verb to forbid; to renounce

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “forsay”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-West Germanic *saggjan, Old English secgan, Old English forsecgan. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *sagjaną / forsay

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