synne

See also: Synne

English

Noun

synne (plural synnes)

1. Obsolete spelling of sin.
   • 1588?, Robert Browne, “A Reproofe of Certeine Schismatical Persons & Their Doctrine Touching the Hearing & Preaching of the Word of God” in Cartwrightiana, ed. Albert Peel and Leland Henry Carlson (1951, published for the Sir Halley Stewart Trust by Allen and Unwin), page 228

     If anie do dislike the superstitious & needles cærimonies in ordination & yet also acknowledg that the Byshops may call, authorise, trie, confirme, & warrant by testimonie the sufficiencie of ministers / what greuous synne is it.

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English synn, from Proto-West Germanic *sunnju (“concern”), from Proto-Germanic *sunjō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es-.

The final vowel is generalised from the Old English oblique forms.

Alternative forms

• cynne, sin, sine, sinne, sunne, syn, synn
• senne, zen, zenne (Kent)
• seonne (Early Middle English)

Pronunciation

• (most dialects) IPA^(key): /ˈsin(ə)/
• (West Midlands) IPA^(key): /ˈsun(ə)/, (SW Midlands) /ˈzun(ə)/
• (Southern) IPA^(key): /ˈzun(ə)/, /ˈzin(ə)/
• (Eastern) IPA^(key): (Kentish) /ˈzɛn(ə)/, (East Anglian) /ˈsɛn(ə)/

Noun

synne (plural synnes or (rare) synnen)

1. Iniquity, sinfulness; immoral behaviour.
2. A sin; a religiously immoral action:
   1. (specifically) Lewdness, promiscuity.
   2. A certain (specified) kind or class of sin.
3. (more generally) A wrong; e.g. a mistake or crime.

Related terms

• synful
• synneles
• synnen
• synnere

Descendants

• English: sin
• Scots: sin

References

• “sinne, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

synne

1. (chiefly Early Middle English) Alternative form of sonne (“sun”)

Etymology 3

Verb

synne

1. Alternative form of synnen (“to sin”)