Etymograph

English

forwhy

Forwhy comes from Middle English forwhy ‘for what reason, for what cause, why’, and goes back to Old English forhwī.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150forhwī
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500forwhy‘for what reason, for what cause, why’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1596same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150forhwī
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500forwhy‘for what reason, for what cause, why’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1596same form

Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene: “Then did he cast to steale her thence away,…”

A compound of for + why

Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- ‘before’

…

Proto-Germanic *furi

Proto-West Germanic *furi

Old English for ‘for’

Middle English for

English for

Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- ‘interrogative root’

…

Proto-Germanic *hwī ‘by what, how’

Proto-West Germanic *hwiu

Old English hwȳ ‘why’

Middle English why

English why

Every English word from Old English forhwī

Today it means

conj Because; for the reason that.

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

Etymograph / Old English forhwī / forwhy

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