Etymology

The likely source favoured by most commentators is OE (ge)frægnian ‘to ask, question’, a late OE by-form (usually wk. 2, but some forms inflected as if wk. 1) on the pret. sg. stem of the str. III frignan (fregnan, frīnan etc.) ‘to ask; investigate, examine’ (gefrignan also ‘to learn about (by inquiry)’); cp. Go fraíhnan, OIcel fregna (ONP (1)), OS *fregnan and the OHG pret. gafregin. Some ON input into either the late OE wk. v. or ME frayn has been suggested (Kluge (1901: 933, 941) and MED), perhaps because OE (ge)frægnian is attested mainly in late Nhb texts and because OIcel fregna (‘to ask' (early verse only); to hear, be informed’) is also attested as a wk. 2 v. (ONP (2)), and (very rarely) as a wk. 1 (ONP (3)).  

PGmc Ancestor

*frexnan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

fregna ‘to ask; to hear, be informed’
(ONP fregna (1, 2, 3) (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far fregna, Icel fregna, Norw frega, fregna, ODan fregne, OSw fräghna, Sw dial frega

OE Cognate

frignan ‘to ask; investigate, examine’ (pret. 3 sg. frægn)

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CCC1c

Attestation

Predominantly a N/EM word in ME, though it is also frequent in alliterative verse of all dial origins (from LB onwards) and is occasionally found further afield (e.g. in the AB tradition and in Chaucer, Gower and Hoccleve). Attested in MnE Sc., Yks. and Lan. dial.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 359, 489, 703 etc.; Pe 129; WA 267, 433, 457 etc.

On the sense at Gaw 489, see PSn (they prefer ‘experience, undergo’) and EVG 129-32n in defence of the reading 'make trial of' here, at Gaw 1549 and Pe 129; on Gaw 703 see Emerson 1927: 257; and on Gaw 1549 see PSn.

Bibliography

MED frainen (v.) , OED frayne, freyne (v.) , HTOED , HTOED , EDD frayn (v.), Dance frayn, Bj. 239, de Vries fregna, Mag. fregna, Seebold freg-na-, Orel *fre3nanan ~ *frexnanan, Kroonen *frehnan-, AEW fregnan, DOE frægnian; gefrægnian, gefrægnan; frægnung, frægning