English

foretell

Foretell comes from Middle English foretellen.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Earliest quotation: 1725–1726, Homer, Book 2: “Deeds then undone me faithful tongue foretold.”

Formed from fore- + tell

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-

Proto-Germanic *talō ‘narration, speech; number, calculation’

Proto-Germanic *taljaną ‘to enumerate, count; to recount, tell’

Proto-West Germanic *talljan ‘to count; to recount, tell’

Old English tellan ‘to count, calculate; to tell, narrate’

Middle English tellen ‘to count, tell’

English tell

First use appears before 1400, from Middle English foretellen, equivalent to fore- + tell.

Every English word from Middle English foretellen

verb To predict; to tell (the future) before it occurs; to prophesy.

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