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Origin and history of fore

fore(adv., prep.)

Old English fore (prep.) "before, in front of, in presence of; because of, for the sake of; earlier in time; instead of;" as an adverb, "before, previously, formerly, once," from Proto-Germanic *fura "before" (source also of Old Saxon fora, Old Frisian fara, Old High German fora, German vor, Danish for, Old Norse fyrr, Gothic faiura "for"), from PIE *prae-, extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before."

Now displaced by before. In nautical use, "toward the bows of the ship." Merged from 13c. with the abbreviated forms of afore and before and thus formerly often written 'fore. As a noun, "the front," from 1630s. The warning cry in golf is first recorded 1878, probably a contraction of before.

fore(adj.)

mid-15c., "forward;" late 15c., "former, earlier;" early 16c., "situated at the front;" all senses apparently from fore- compounds, which frequently were written as two words in Middle English.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to fore

before(adv., prep.)

Old English beforan "in front of, in former times; in the presence of, in front of in time or position," from Proto-Germanic *bi- "by" (see by) + *forana "from the front," adverbial derivative of *fora (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before"). Compare Old Frisian bifara, Old Saxon biforan, Old High German bifora, German bevor.

As a conjunction, "previous to the time when," from c. 1200. Contrasting before and after in illustrations is from Hogarth (1768). Before the mast in old sailing ship jargon in reference to the life of a common sailor is from the place of their berths, in front of the fore-mast.

firn(n.)

"consolidated snow, the raw material of glaciers," 1839, literally "last year's snow, névé," from German Firn, from Swiss dialectal firn "of last year," from Middle High German virne "old," from Old High German firni, related to Old English fyrn "old," Gothic fairns "of last year," from Proto-Germanic *fur- "before" (see fore (adv.)).

The only living English relic of a useful word meaning "of last year" that was widespread in Indo-European languages (cognates: Lithuanian pernai "last year" (adv.), Greek perysi "a year ago, last year," Sanskrit parut "of last year;" also German Firnewein "wine of last year"). Old English had fyrngemynd "ancient history," more literally, "memory of long ago;" fyrnmann "man of old times;" fyrnnes "antiquity;" fyrnsægen "old saying." Middle English retained fern "long ago, formerly, of old," fern-days "days of old, former year, a year past."