Etymograph

English

forfex

Forfex comes from Latin forfex ‘pair of shears or scissors’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰerdʰ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰerdʰ-‘to capture, shear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*forðomreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEforfex‘pair of shears or scissors’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1712same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰerdʰ-‘to capture, shear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*forðomreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEforfex‘pair of shears or scissors’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1712same form

Earliest quotation: 1712, Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.: “The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring Forfex wide, T'inclose…”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerdʰ-

Today it means

noun A pair of shears.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰerdʰ- / forfex

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