vor

Forms

vor (preposition with dative or accusative; adverb)^[2][3] It contracts with the article to vorm (vor dem) and vors (vor das).^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German vor (also vore), inherited from Old High German fora, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *forē, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fur- (“before”), a form that appears with various endings.^[4][3][1] The same word is Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰 (faura), Old Norse for-, Old English fore, Old Frisian fora and Old Saxon for, and it survives in Dutch voor and English for.^[4][3][5]

Outside Germanic, Pfeifer compares Ancient Greek πάρα (pára), παρά (pará) “beside, along, from”, and traces the group to Proto-Indo-European *pərā̌, which belongs to the root Proto-Indo-European *per (“leading beyond”).^[3] Duden and Wahrig likewise derive it from the root *per- (“over, beyond”).^[6][7] Kluge gives the original sense as “going beyond, in front of”, from the same base as fern, fort, Fürst, ver- and vorder.^[4]

Beside it stood Old High German furi, the source of für; both had the same local sense and differed mainly in the case they governed, the former taking the dative for position and the latter the accusative for direction.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German fora is recorded from the 8th century, first in glosses.^[4][3][9] The Isidor translation, the Muspilli, the Monsee fragments, the Murbach hymns, Otfrid, Tatian and Notker use it as a preposition meaning “before, in front of”, “because of”, “for”, “instead of”, and as an adverb “earlier, in front”.^[10][9] Notker also has it as a noun, “the front” as opposed to “the back”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

As a preposition vor first expressed a spatial relation, originally only with the dative for position “at the front of”;^[3] New High German added the accusative for movement towards that side.^[3] Temporal, causal and other uses developed from it; the causal sense, as in vor Schreck “for fright”, had already branched off in Old High German.^[3][6]

In Low German and much of Central German vor and für merged in the form vor, and writers then used each for the other: Luther often wrote für for vor, and Schiller still wavered.^[8] From the 18th century grammarians imposed a new division, by which vor took over the old local and temporal senses and für kept the more abstract ones.^[3][8]

The adverb was largely displaced by davor, hervor, voran, voraus, vorher and above all vorn; it survives in nach wie vor “still, as before” and in separable verbs, from which commands like Freiwillige vor! “volunteers, step forward!” are shortened.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German fora is first recorded.^[4][3]
• 15th century – The adverb vorab and the adjective vorig appear.^[3]
• 16th century – voran and vorüber appear.^[3]
• 17th century – vorbei appears.^[3]
• 18th century – Grammarians settle the division between vor and für.^[3]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (with dative) In front of, on the side facing the viewer: vor dem Haus “in front of the house”.^[2][1]
2. (with accusative) To the front of: sich vor den Spiegel stellen “to stand in front of the mirror”.^[2]
3. (with dative, of time) before, earlier than: vor Weihnachten “before Christmas”.^[2][1]
4. (with dative, of time) ago: vor Jahren “years ago”.^[2][1]
5. (with dative) From, against, of a danger or threat.^[1]
6. (with dative) Out of, for, giving a cause: vor Schreck “for fright”.^[1][6]

Adverb

1. Forward, to the front, mostly in commands and set phrases: nach wie vor “still, as before”.^[3][6]

Word family

• vorm
• vors
• voran
• voraus
• vorauf
• vorher
• vorhin
• vorab
• vorerst
• vorüber
• vorbei
• vorig
• vorder
• vorn

Related words

• für
• fern
• fort
• Fürst
• ver-
• English fore

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 963
5. ^ Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 3, 1132
6. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 912
7. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
8. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 109
11. ^ Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 3, 1147