The story
- Old English · derived fromforþberan“to bring forth, produce”
- Middle English · inherited fromforthberen
- English todayforthbear
From Middle English forthberen, possibly from Old English forþberan (“to bring forth, produce”). Equivalent to forth- + bear. The Middle English word is alternatively a calque of Latin prōferre.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.