The story
- Old English · inherited fromforceorfan“to cut through, cut off, cut away, cut down”
- Middle English · inherited fromforkerven
- English todayforcarve
From Middle English forkerven, from Old English forceorfan (“to cut through, cut off, cut away, cut down”), equivalent to for- + carve.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.