Origin and history of former

Middle English formest, from Old English fyrmest, formest "earliest, first, most prominent," from Proto-Germanic *furmista-/*frumista- (related to Old English fruma "beginning"), from PIE *pre-mo-, suffixed (superlative) form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "through, in front of, before, first" + additional superlative suffix -est. For the -m-, see -most, and compare similarly formed Old Frisian formest, Gothic frumists. Altered on the assumption that it is a compound of fore and most. The same compound without the superlative -m- is first. Also in Old English as an adverb, "first of all, at first, in the first place."

c. 1300, formen, fourmen, "create, give life to, give shape or structure to; make, build, construct, devise," from Old French fourmer "formulate, express; draft, create, shape, mold" (12c.) and directly from Latin formare "to shape, fashion, build," also figurative, from forma "form, contour, figure, shape" (see form (n.)). From late 14c. as "go to make up, be a constituent part of;" intransitive sense "take form, come into form" is from 1722. Related: Formed; forming.