Fornication

thumb|Þe fyrst ys ‘fornycacyoṅ’, / Whan two vnweddyd haue mysdoṅ ~ Robert de Brunne Fornication is generally consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. When one or more of the partners having consensual sexual intercourse is married to another person, it is called adultery. Quotes Þe fyrst ys ‘fornycacyoṅ’,Whan two vnweddyd haue mysdoṅ,As sengle knaue and sengle tarne,Whan þey synne to-gedyr ȝerne;Þe leste hyt ys of allë seuene,Ȝyt hyt forbarreþ þe blys of heuene Robert de Brunne, Handlyng Synne (c. 1303) tarne = tharne, glossed ‘a wenche’ When lovely woman stoops to folly,  And finds too late that men betray,What charm can soothe her melancholy,  What art can wash her guilt away? The only art her guilt to cover,  To hide her shame from every eye,To give repentance to her lover,  And wring his bosom—is to die. Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), ch. 29 Ay fukkand lyke ane furious fornicatour. Sir David Lyndsay, "The Answer to the Kingis Flyting" External links Category:Sexuality