n. (pl.)
‘forelands, promontories’/‘low-lying lands’
(Modern English foreland)The argument for ON input here pertains only to the specific sense at Gaw 699. ME forlondez in a sense like ‘promontory’ is a straightforward compound of OE for(e) ‘in front’ (PGmc *fur(a) used as a prefix; cp. Go faur(a), OIcel for, OFris, OS, OHG fora) + land ‘land’ (PGmc *lanðan; cp. Go land, OIcel land, OFris land, lond, OS land, OHG lant), cp. Du voorland. However, GDS (699n) (supported by Elliott's (1984: 65–6, 75–6) analysis of the 'Gawain country' topography), prefer to render the Gaw word ‘low-lying lands’, showing influence from the ON compound represented by OIcel forlendi ‘the land between the hills and sea’ (attested four times from the 14c. (ONP); its second element is a ja-derivative on ON land).
PGmc Ancestor
*fur(a) + *lanðan
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
forlendi ‘the land between the hills and sea’
(ONP for-lendi (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
OE Cognate
for(e) ‘in front’ + land 'land'
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
CC3
(CC4a)
MED has five other instances of the word clearly meaning ‘promontory’ (its sense (1) only), three from Trevisa and two from ?c1475 Direct.Sailing in Hak.Soc.79 (Lnsd 285). A sense ‘low-lying land’ would be unique in English at Gaw 699.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 699