Forms: 1 forȝife(n)nys, -ȝyfe(n)nys, forȝif(e)nes; for later forms cf. FORGIVE and -NESS. [OE. forȝifennys, f. forȝifen, FORGIVEN ppl. a. + -NESS. Cf. Du. vergiffenis.]

1

  1.  The action of forgiving; pardon of a fault, remission of a debt, etc. † In OE. also: Indulgent permission.

2

  The etymological sense, ‘condition or fact of being forgiven,’ is not clearly evidenced even in OE., though in expressions like ‘the forgiveness of sins’ the word may admit of being thus interpreted.

3

c. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. xvi. [xxvii]. (1890), 82. Ðis ic cweðo æfter forgifnesse [secundum indulgentiam] nales æfter bebodo.

4

971.  Blickl. Hom., 19. Þonne we ure synna ondettaþ & us forgifnessa biddaþ.

5

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 298. Nis noþer inne helle ore no forȝiuenesse.

6

1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 58. Þat bid me for ȝefnesse, & to amende hys trespas.

7

1340.  Ayenb., 32. Vor non ne may habbe uoryeuenesse: wyþ-oute zoþe ssrifte.

8

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xiii. 59. A man schuld all anely ask him forgifnes wham he trespast to.

9

1480.  Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxviii. 238. The pope … yafe hem full remission foryeuenes of al hir sinnes that they were shriven of and this pestilence lasted in london fro mihel masse.

10

1584.  Powel, Lloyd’s Cambria, 235. The French king came to a parlee, and shortlie they concluded a peace, so that all the brethren desired the father forgiuenes.

11

1729.  Butler, Serm., Pref. Wks. 1874, II. 21. Forgiveness of injuries is one of the very few moral obligations which has been disputed.

12

1863.  Geo. Eliot, Romola, II. xxxi. He would have to encounter much that was unpleasant before he could win her forgiveness.

13

  2.  Disposition or willingness to forgive.

14

c. 1200.  Ormin, 1476.

        & are & millce & mildherrtleȝȝc
  & rihht forrȝifenesse.

15

1535.  Coverdale, Dan. ix. 9. Vnto the … pertayneth mercy and forgeuenesse.

16

1678.  Sprat, Serm., 9. Here are introduc’d far more Heroic Principles of Meekness, Forgiveness, Bounty, and Magnanimity, than ever all the Learning of the Heathens could invent, or all the Antiquity of the Jews could boast of.

17

  b.  in plural. rare. (A Hebraism.)

18

1611.  Bible, Dan. ix. 9. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiuenesses, though we haue rebelled against him.

19