What For- Is For

What For- Is For What For- Is For What For- Is For By Mark Nichol The element for-, though it stems from the same Proto-Germanic word that gave us the preposition for, deviated from the common ancestor to serve as a prefix meaning â€Å"away,† â€Å"opposite,† or â€Å"completely.† That’s the sense that contributes to the meaning of most words beginning with for-. Notice that these words have in common that their connotations are definitive: The verbs forbid (â€Å"prohibit,† with a root cognate with bid and meaning â€Å"command†), forget (â€Å"fail to remember† or â€Å"inadvertently neglect,† with a root cognate with get and meaning â€Å"grasp,†), and forgive (â€Å"pardon,† with a self-evident root) are potent; so, too, is the adverb forever (â€Å"always,† with a self-evident root). Other words in the for- family have not only that strong sense but also an archaic ring to them, and most are rare: the verbs forbear (â€Å"refrain† or â€Å"endure†; the root is self-evident), forfend (â€Å"prevent† or â€Å"protect†; the root, fend, is the word meaning â€Å"ward off†), forgo (â€Å"refrain from†; the root is self-evident); forlorn (originally â€Å"disgraced,† later â€Å"wretched† and â€Å"abandoned†; the root- also seen in lovelorn, meaning â€Å"pining for love†- means â€Å"lost†), forsake (â€Å"abandon†; the root, cognate with sake, means â€Å"blame† or â€Å"dispute†), and forswear (â€Å"renounce†; the root is self-evident) and the adverb forsooth (â€Å"indeed†; the root, cognate with sooth, means â€Å"truth†). Other intensive terms, which are so archaic as to be obsolete, are the verb fordo (â€Å"destroy† or â€Å"kill†; the adjectival form, fordone, survives in an inverted version as the idiomatic phrase â€Å"done for†) and the adjective forblak (â€Å"exceedingly black†). Several for- words are only partially related: The first syllable in the adjective foreign (â€Å"from beyond one’s own country†) and in forfeit, both a verb and a noun (â€Å"give up† or â€Å"something given up,† respectively), is from a Latin element meaning â€Å"outside,† which is distantly akin to the other for-. The verb and adverb forward (the word retains a noun function only in reference to a position held by certain athletes) was spelled forewearde in Old English. Like words that still begin with fore-, it pertains to something located before something else (or, in the case of some of these words, something occurring before something else); for- and fore- are distant relatives. Fortune and fortuitous are unrelated outliers based on the Latin root that means â€Å"chance† or â€Å"luck.† The second element in therefor and therefore- the distinction between the first rare form and the more common second one is â€Å"by reason of that† versus â€Å"in consequence of that,† respectively- is the conjunction for (â€Å"because†). Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply withWhat to Do When Words Appear Twice in a Row5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation