adv.
'of old'
(Modern English forne)There are two distinct Gmc words at issue here, whose reflexes are however not always easy to tell apart. (1) The PGmc adj. *furna- ‘old’, as in the ON adj. represented by OIcel forn ‘old’; an Ablaut variant of *ferna-, cp. Go faírns ‘previous’, OS fernun (gēre) and *fernja-, cp. Go faírneis, OE fyrn, OHG firni. (2) An extension of the adv. *fur(a) ‘in front of, before’, i.e. *fur-an-, as in the OE adv./prep. forms foran, forane ‘in front (of), before (etc.)’, and cp. further OS foran, forana. The OE variants forne, forn (and cp. OHG forna, forn, OS forn, all of which are attested only in adverbial function) are formally ambiguous, and have sometimes been linked to (1) (so e.g. T-F 231, Orel, de Vries, Mag.), but it may be safer to explain them as forms of (2) (so OED, DOE). The case for ON input (Emerson 1922: 409) is based on the argument that the sense at Gaw 2422 is ‘of old, in old times’. Even if so, it could be explained as an independent development of the native sense rather than influence from the ON adj.
PGmc Ancestor
*furna- or *fur-an-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
forn ‘old’
(ONP forn (adj.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
cp. Far fornur, Icel forn, Norw forn, Dan forn, Sw forn
OE Cognate
fyrn (forn, forne) (adj.) 'former, ancient', (adv.) 'formerly, of old'
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
CCC3b
MED cites a handful of instances of forn- used adverbially, showing no obvious dial restriction. EPNE suggests that ON forn appears in a handful of place-names from the N/EM, as far south as Nhp. (though notes that it is difficult to distinguish the adj. from the Scand. personal name Forni).
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 2422