forage

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*peh₂-“to protect, to feed”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*fōdrą“fodder, feed, sheath”
3. Frankish · derived from*fōdar“fodder, sheath”
4. Old French · derived fromfourage
5. Middle English · inherited fromforage
6. English todayforage

From Middle English forage, from Old French fourage, forage, a derivative of fuerre (“fodder, straw”), from Frankish *fōdar (“fodder, sheath”), from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą (“fodder, feed, sheath”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect, to feed”). Cognate with Old High German fuotar (German Futter (“fodder, feed”)), Old English fōdor, fōþer (“food, fodder, covering, case, basket”), Dutch voeder (“forage, food, feed”), Danish foder (“fodder, feed”), Icelandic fóðr (“fodder, sheath”). More at fodder, food. Unrelated to modern French forage (“drilling”), whose first element is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“to pierce”).

Words from the same roots