English

foreboding

Foreboding comes from Middle English forbodyng.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Earliest quotation: 1876, Henry James, Jr.: “To me there is something sad in his life,…”

Formed from fore + bode + ing

Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- ‘to be awake’

Proto-Germanic *budōną ‘to announce, proclaim’

Proto-West Germanic *bodōn ‘to announce, proclaim’

Old English bodian ‘to announce, proclaim, tell’

Middle English boden

English bode

Old English ing ‘meadow, water meadow, ing’

Middle English ing

English ing

Every English word from Middle English forbodyng

noun A sense of evil to come.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.