v.
WA infin. lekyn, licken, pres. 1 sg. licken, 2 sg. lickyns, likens, pres. ptcp. lickenand, pp. lickend, lickund, lykkynd
'to compare, resemble, make like' (Modern English liken)
PGmc Ancestor
*(ga)līka-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
líkr ‘like, alike’
(ONP glíkr (adj.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far líkur, Icel líkur, Norw lik, Dan lig, Sw lik
OE Cognate
gelīc ‘like, alike’
Phonological and morphological markers
[absence of palatalization of */k/] (possibly diagnostic)
Summary category
CCC2
MED's handful of attestations begin in the 15c. and are widespread (incl. Malory). OED3 cites earlier instances in the Kentish dial of Ayenbite of Inwyt. It may be noteworthy that OED3's sense (3) 'to make like' only occurs in N texts in ME (see also Occurrences).
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
WA 438, 666, 2706 etc.
The v. occurs with the sense 'make like' at WA 4350, and TPD (4479n) note that the verse is the poet's addition, invoking the idea of man as 'imago Dei'.