English

forestay

Forestay comes from Middle English forstay.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Earliest quotation: 2008, Alfred Fox: “Anna decided not to press that subject and forestayed…”

Formed from fore- + stay ‘a stay, rope’

Proto-Indo-European *per- ‘before, formerly’

Proto-Germanic *fura- ‘before, in front of, for’

Proto-West Germanic *forē- ‘before, in front of, fore-, pre-’

English fore-

Old French estaye ‘a prop, stay’

Old French estayer ‘to fix, prop up, support, stay’

Middle English steyen

English stay

Every English word from Middle English forstay

noun A stay that extends from the top of the foremast to the bow or bowsprit of a sailing ship

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