Advertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of from

from(prep., adv.)

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 (see pro-), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward." The Germanic sense of "moving away" apparently evolved from the notion of "forward motion." It is related to Old English fram "forward; bold; strong," and fremian "promote, accomplish" (see frame (v.)).

Entries linking to from

frame(v.)

Old English framian "to profit, be helpful, avail, benefit," from fram (adj., adv.) "active, vigorous, bold," originally "going forward," from fram (prep.) "forward; from" (see from). Influenced by related Old English fremman "help forward, promote; do, perform, make, accomplish," and Old Norse fremja "to further, execute." Compare German frommen "avail, profit, benefit, be of use."

Sense focused in Middle English from "make ready" (mid-13c.) to "prepare timber for building" (late 14c.). Meaning "compose, devise" is first attested 1540s. The criminal slang sense of "blame an innocent person" (1920s) is probably from earlier sense of "plot in secret" (1900), perhaps ultimately from meaning "fabricate a story with evil intent," which is first attested 1510s. Related: Framed; framing.

fra(adv.)

Scottish and Northern English survival of Old Norse fra "from" (see from, which is its cognate).

Advertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Trends of from

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

More to explore

fro
"away, backwards," c. 1200, Northern English and Scottish dialectal fra, Midlands dialect fro, from Old Norse fra "from," from Proto-Germanic *fra "forward, away from," from PIE *pro- (see pro-), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before, toward, near,
furnish
mid-15c., "fit out, equip, to provision" (a castle, ship, person); "provide (soldiers)," from Old French furniss-/forniss-, present participle stem of furnir/fornir "accomplish, carry out; equip, fit out; provide" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *fornire, alteration of *fromire, from W
immunity
late 14c., "exemption from service or obligation," from Old French immunité "privilege; immunity from attack, inviolability..." (14c.) and directly from Latin immunitatem (nominative immunitas) "exemption from performing public service or charge,...privilege," from immunis "exempt, free, not paying a share" (see immune (adj.))....Medical sense of "protection from disease" is from 1879, from French or German....
patronymic
"a name derived from that of parents or ancestors," 1610s, from Late Latin patronymicum, from neuter of patronymicus (adj..."derived from a father's name," from Greek patrōnymos "named from the father," from patēr (genitive patros) "father" (see...father (n.)) + onyma "name," Aeolic dialectal variant of onoma "name" (from PIE root *no-men- "name")....As an adjective, "derived from the name of a father or ancestor," from 1660s. Related: Patronymically....
sexagenarian
1738, "person sixty years old or between sixty and seventy years old," from Latin sexagenarius "containing sixty," from sexagenarius..., from sexageni "sixty each, sixty at a time," from sexaginta "sixty," from combining form of sex (see six)....With -genaria "ten times," from -ginta "tens" (from PIE *dkm-ta-, from root *dekm- "ten")....As an adjective, "pertaining to or characteristic of the age from sixty to seventy," from 1836....
derive
late 14c., "descend from," from Old French deriver "to flow, pour out; derive, originate," from Latin derivare "to lead or...draw off (a stream of water) from its source" (in Late Latin also "to derive"), from phrase de rivo (de "from" + rivus "...General sense of "get, gain, obtain" (as from a source or origin) is from 1560s; that of "arise, spring" (from) a source...or origin is from 1660s....
abstain
late 14c., "avoid (something); refrain (oneself) from; keep free from sin or vice; live austerely, practice abstinence or..."hold (oneself) back, refrain voluntarily, abstain (from what satisfies the passions), practice abstinence," from Latin abstinere..."withhold, keep back, keep off," from assimilated form of ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + tenere "to hold" (from PIE root...Specifically of liquor from late 14c. Meaning "refrain from voting" is from 1796. Related: Abstained; abstaining....
cat
Old English catt (c. 700) "domestic cat," from West Germanic (c. 400-450), from Proto-Germanic *kattuz (source also of Old Frisian katte, Old Norse köttr, Dutch kat, Old High German kazza, German Katze), from Late Latin cattus. The near-universal European word now, it appeared in
heresy
"doctrine or opinion at variance with established standards" (or, as Johnson defines it, "an opinion of private men different from that of the catholick and orthodox church"), c. 1200, from Old French heresie, eresie "heresy," and by extension "sodomy, immorality" (12c.), from La
syncope
1520s, "contraction of a word by omission of middle sounds or letters," from Latin syncope "contraction of a word by elision," from Greek synkopē "contraction of a word," literally "a cutting off, cutting up, cutting short," from synkoptein "to cut up." This is from syn- "togethe

Share from

Advertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Trending
Dictionary entries near from
Advertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.