aliefan

• ālȳfan — Late West Saxon
• ālēfan — Anglian

From Proto-West Germanic *uʀlaubijan, from Proto-Germanic *uzlaubijaną, equivalent to ā- +‎ līefan (“to grant”).

• IPA^(key): /ɑːˈli͜yː.fɑn/, [ɑːˈli͜yː.vɑn]

ālīefan

1. to allow
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Octaves and Circumcision of our Lord"

     Nis nu ālȳfed cristenum mannum þæt hi þas ymbsnidennysse lichamlice healdan, ac þeah-hwæðere nan man ne bið soðlice cristen, buton he ða ymbsnidennysse on gastlicum ðeawum gehealde.

     It is not now allowed for Christian men to observe circumcision bodily, but, nevertheless, no man is truly a Christian, unless he observe circumcision in spiritual conduct.

   • Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

     Ġelēaffulle lǣwede menn, þe on rihtum sinsċipe lybbað, āġifað þrītigḟealdne wǣstm gōdra weorca, ġif hī heora æw̄e æfter bōclīcum ġesetnyssum healdað, þæt is, þæt hī for bearnes ġestrēone, on alyfedum tīman, hǣmed begān, and bearneacniġende wīf and mōnaðsēoc forbūgan; and ðonne hēo leng tȳman ne mæġ,̇ ġeswican hī hǣmedes.

     Faithful lay people, who live in righteous marriage, yield thirtyfold fruit of good works, if their marriage follows the biblical decrees; that is, that they have intercourse for the procreation of children at permitted times, and abstain from intercourse with pregnant or menstruating women, and that at the time they can no longer procreate, they cease intercourse.

2. to surrender, yield up

• ālīefednes

• Middle English: alyfen