Etymograph

English

forewrite

Forewrite comes from Old English forewrītan ‘to proscribe, banish, write above, write before’, from Proto-West Germanic *wrītan ‘to scratch, carve’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrītaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrītaną‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wrītan‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wrītan‘to write’
  4. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150forewrītan‘to proscribe, banish, write above, write before’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fore-writen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1837forewrite

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrītaną‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wrītan‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wrītan‘to write’
  4. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150forewrītan‘to proscribe, banish, write above, write before’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fore-writen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1837forewrite

Earliest quotation: 1837, The London and Westminster Review:: “How know'st thou those dark words the Eternal Hand…”

Formed from fore- + write

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-Indo-European *wrey- ‘to rip’

Proto-Germanic *wrītaną ‘to carve’

Proto-West Germanic *wrītan ‘to scratch’

Old English wrītan ‘to write’

Middle English writen ‘to write’

English write

Linked words

through Old English wrītan ‘to write’

writing, writer, unwritten, underwrite, 2 more

Today it means

verb To write beforehand; write in advance.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *wrītaną / forewrite

Shirt and support for this word