Etymology

foreword

fore·word
F4O1R1E1W4O1R1D2

Today it means: An introductory section preceding the main text of a book or other document; especially, one written by another person (not the author of the work thus introduced). Full definition →

German Vorwort ← Latin praefatio ← Old English forword
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromforword
  2. Latin · calque ofpraefatio“preface”
  3. German · calque ofVorwort
  4. English todayforeword

Morphologically fore- + word. Calque of German Vorwort, itself a calque of Latin praefatio (“preface”). Cognate with German Low German Vörwoord (“foreword”), Dutch voorwoord (“foreword”), West Frisian foarwurd (“foreword”), Danish forord (“preface; proviso”), Swedish förord (“foreword”). Compare also Old English forword, foreword (“proviso; condition”).

Words from the same roots

Latinpraefatio all →

prefaceprefatory

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.