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Origin and history of forked

forked(adj.)

c. 1300, "branched or divided in two parts," past-participle adjective from fork (v.). Of roads from 1520s; from 1550s as "pointing more than one way." In 16c.-17c. sometimes with a suggestion of "cuckold," on the notion of "horned." Forked tongue as a figure of duplicitous speech is from 1885, American English. Double tongue in the same sense is from 15c.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to forked

fork(v.)

early 14c., "to divide in branches, go separate ways," also "disagree, be inconsistent," from fork (n.). Transitive meaning "raise or pitch with a fork" is from 1812. Related: Forked; forking. The slang verb phrase fork (something) over is from 1839 (fork out) "give over" is from 1831). Forking (n.) in the forensic sense "disagreement among witnesses" is from c. 1400.

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    Trends of forked

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    double
    c. 1300, "twice as much or as large," also "repeated, occurring twice," also "of extra weight, thickness, size, or strength; of two layers," from Old French doble (10c.) "double, two-fold; two-faced, deceitful," from Latin duplus "twofold, twice as much," from duo "two" (from PIE
    imagism
    —Say it, no ideas but in things— nothing but the blank faces of the houses and cylindrical trees bent, forked by preconception...
    swallow
    "possible, but the suffix remains unclear;" he suggests as more likely the suggestion that the swallow is named for its forked...
    gable
    gafol, geafel, Old Saxon gafala, Dutch gaffel, Old High German gabala "pitchfork," German Gabel "fork;" Old Irish gabul "forked...
    mandrake
    The forked root is thought to resemble a human body and was said to shriek when pulled from the ground....
    pedigree
    On old manuscripts, "descent" was indicated by a forked sign resembling the branching lines of a genealogical chart; the...
    breeches
    The etymological notion would be of a garment "forked" or "split."...
    separate
    early 15c., separaten, transitive, "remove, detach completely; divide (something), sever the connection or association of," from Latin separatus, past participle of separare "to pull apart," from se- "apart" (see secret (n.)) + parare "make ready, prepare" (from PIE root *pere- (
    form
    c. 1200, forme, fourme, "semblance, image, likeness," from Old French forme, fourme, "physical form, appearance; pleasing looks; shape, image; way, manner" (12c.), from Latin forma "form, contour, figure, shape; appearance, looks; a fine form, beauty; an outline, a model, pattern
    from
    Old English fram, preposition denoting departure or movement away in time or space, from Proto-Germanic *fra "forward, away from" (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German, Gothic fram "from, away," Old Norse fra "from," fram "forward"), from PIE *pro-mo-, suffixed form of *pro

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