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• forsake •

Pronunciation: for-sayk, fêr-sayk • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, transitive

Meaning: Abandon, desert, leave behind, turn away from—usually implying forever.

Notes: Today's Good Word is a strong verb, which is to say, an irregular one. The past tense is forsook, and the past participle is forsaken. The past participle can also function as an adjective, as in forsaken land or forsaken building. This word has an adverb, forsakenly, and a noun, forsakenness.

In Play: This word usually carries the sense of complete abandonment: "Barnaby Bailey forsook the circus for politics. He was forsaken by all his friends upon doing so." The object of today's word may be concrete or abstract: "Justine found that the rigid office procedures forced her to forsake her usual efficiency."

Word History: Today's Good Word is composed of for + sake originally "seek". The meaning of for is elusive at best, but one of its senses in the past was "neglecting, abstaining", seen in forgo and forbear. Thus the original meaning must have been something like "abstain, neglect to seek". Sake in Middle English meant "dispute, guilt", from Old English sacu "legal action, purpose", that which is sought after. This word is related to Old English secan "to seek". English ransack and ramshackle are also related. Middle English ransaken was borrowed from Old Norse rannsaka "to search a house, to pillage", based on rann "house" + saka "to search, seek". Ramshackle refers to the condition of a house after being searched by the Old Norse Vikings. (Let us not forsake William Hupy, but thank him vigorously for his suggestion of today's Good Word.)

In Matthew 27:45-46, it says, "Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The word "forsaken" here has always moved me alot. The sense of abandonment, anguish and helplessness -- unfathomable!

Without express mention, songwriters of the The Ballad of High Noon probably intended to evoke the Bible in the lyrics , "Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin'." In Gary Cooper's lonely confrontation with the Bad Guy, will Grace Kelly forsake him, or be a faithful darlin' by his side?

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4a_1UhwgFU)

Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin',
On this, our wedding day.
Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin',
Wait; wait alone.
I do not know what fate awaits me.
I only know I must be brave.
For I must face a man who hates me,
Or lie a coward, a craven coward;
Or lie a coward in my grave.

Oh, to be torn 'twixt love an' duty.
S'posin' I lose my fair-haired beauty.
Look at that big hand move along,
Nearing high noon.

He made a vow while in state prison:
Vowed it would be my life for his an',
I'm not afraid of death but, oh, what shall I do,
If you leave me?

Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin':
You made that promise as a bride.
Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin'.
Although you're grievin', don't think of leavin',
Now that I need you by my side.

Wait along, (Wait along.)
Wait along.
Wait along. (Wait along, wait along, wait along, wait along.)

Loved that movie.

MTC: I immediately thought of "High Noon" when I saw the Good Word forsake. I was going to post what you posted. You beat me to it.

Literature and actual history are full of sacrificial acts that present, in miniature, the passion of Jesus. For some people this cheapens, perhaps to insignificance, the sacrifice of Jesus. For others it is a sign of what a real person is called upon to do and that Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice.

Huh? How did Jesus get into a western?

Well, there are spaghetti westerns, maybe there are
matzoh westerns!

According to an online concordance, "forsake" appears eighty-four (84) times in the Bible, and "forsaken" forty (40) times. It is impossible to employ the word "forsake" in Western culture without striking a Biblical chord, however faint.

When I read today's good word, I was reminded of a very touching scene from the movie "Away From Her" (based on a short story by Alice Munro) wherein the wife, suffering from dementia, and in an assisted living facility, tells her husband, who has come to visit, "You could have just driven away without a care in the world, and forsook me... forsooken... forsaken," as she searches for the right word.

Poignant.