Etymograph

English

forgo

Forgo comes from Middle English forgon ‘to go by, pass up’, from Old English forgān ‘to go away, forgo’, and ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *fragān.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fragānreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150forgān‘to go away, forgo’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500forgon‘to go by, pass up’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611forgo

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fragānreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150forgān‘to go away, forgo’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500forgon‘to go by, pass up’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611forgo

Earliest quotation: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “Doe not for one repulſe forgoe the purpoſe /…”

Formed from for- + go

Proto-Indo-European *pro- ‘before, in front of’

Proto-Germanic *fra- ‘off, away’

Proto-West Germanic *fra- ‘forms verbs with the sense of "away from" or…’

English for-

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave’

Proto-Germanic *gāną ‘to go’

Proto-West Germanic *gān ‘to go’

Old English gān ‘to go’

Middle English gon

English go

Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *fragān

Today it means

verb To do without (something enjoyable); to relinquish.

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

Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *fragān / forgo

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