asken

From Middle English asken, axen, equivalent to ask +‎ -en.

asken

1. (obsolete) plural simple present of ask
   • c. 1450, Prose Merlin:

     And Merlin seide, "Of that ye me asken, I shall not speke withoute Ulfyn."

   • c. 1527–1542, Thomas Wyatt, “Myne owne John Poyntz”, in Egerton MS 2711‎^[1], page 49r:

     And much the leſſe of thinges that greater be
     that aſken helpe of colours of deviſe

   • a. 1727, Alexander Pope, Imitations of English Poets: Chaucer:

     They asken that, and talken this, […]

• kaens, akens, nakes, skean, Keans, snake, sneak, Kasen, kenas, Snake, Skåne

asken c

1. definite singular of ask

• aske, aski, axen, axe
• axien, eski, eskien, oxien (Early Middle English); easki, easkin (AB language); asskenn (Ormulum)
• asshe, asche, axse, axsy, axie, ix (Late Middle English)
• oxi (Kent); esche, esse (Gloucestershire)

Inherited from Old English āscian, ācsian, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn.

• IPA^(key): /ˈaskən/ (general), /ˈaksən/ (not Northern or North Midlands)
• IPA^(key): /ˈaʃ-/ (uncommon, especially West Midland), /ˈɛʃ-/ (mostly Gloucestershire)
• IPA^(key): /ˈɔksiən/ (early Southern), /ˈɔksiː/ (Kent)

asken (third-person singular simple present asketh, present participle askende, askynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle asked)

1. (ambitransitive, ditransitive) To ask (someone or something):
   1. To ask about; to ask for information. [with direct object or of or by]
      • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[2], published c. 1410, Coꝛinthis ·i· 14:35, page 66v, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

        but if þei wolen ony þing lerne .· at hoom axe þei her hoſebondis / foꝛ it is foule þing to a womman .· to ſpeke in chirche

        But if they want to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home, because it's a revolting thing for a woman to speak in church.

   2. To ask for; to request (especially in prayer)
      • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[3], published c. 1410, Matheu 7:7-8, page 3v, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

        Axe ȝe .· ⁊ it ſchal be ȝouun to ȝou / ſeke ȝe .· ⁊ ȝe ſchulen fynde / knocke ȝe .· ⁊ it ſchal be opened to ȝou / foꝛ ech that axiþ .· takiþ / and he that ſekiþ .· fyndiþ / and it ſchal be openyde to hym .· that knockiþ

        Ask, and you'll receive it; look, and you'll find; knock, and it'll be opened for you. / Because anyone who asks takes, someone that looks finds, and that'll be opened to them that knocks.

   3. To command, demand, or require.
2. (transitive, ditransitive) To look or search for; to attempt to obtain.
3. (transitive) To investigate or examine (something)
4. (rare, transitive) To aim to visit a location.
5. (rare, transitive) To extend towards.

• asker
• askynge

• English: ask (dialectal ax, axe, aks)
  • Sranan Tongo: aksi
• Middle Scots: ask, as
  • Scots: ask, as, ax
• Yola: ishe

• “asken, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• Laing, Margaret (2008), LAEME: A Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English‎^[4], version 4.0, Edinburgh: Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics; revised 2024.
• McIntosh, Angus; Samuels, M[ichael] L.; Benskin, Michael (2013) [1986], Michael Benskin, Margaret Laing, editors, eLALME: A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English‎^[5], Edinburgh: Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics; revised 2024 November.

asken m

1. definite singular of ask

• aska

asken m or f

1. definite masculine singular of aske

asken m

1. definite singular of ask

asken

1. definite singular of ask

• ekans, nekas, saken, skena