Etymologically
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fare

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /feə/, US /fer/[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English faren, inherited from Old English faran (“to journey, make one's way”),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *faranan (“to go”),[2][3] cognate with Old Saxon faran, Old High German faran, Old Norse fara and Old Frisian fara, and modern Dutch varen and German fahren,[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead, pass over”).[3][5] The noun blends fær (“journey, road”) and faru (“journey, expedition, companions”), both formed from the verb.[2][3][5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, to journey or travel: about 725.[2] The noun, a journey: about 1000 in Old English, and 1120 as Middle English fare.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant to get along, well or badly, from about 1000,[2] and to be provided with food from about 1350;[2] it is now only literary.[5] The noun's first sense, a journey, survives only in compounds such as wayfarer and seafaring.[3] Food provided is from about 1200.[3] The sense of conveyance appears in Scots in the early 15th century and led to the payment for a passage in the 1510s,[3] and a passenger is a fare from the 1560s.[3] Farewell is an imperative, “proceed happily”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – to journey (verb).[2]
  • c. 1000 – a journey; to get along.[2]
  • c. 1200 – food provided.[3]
  • c. 1350 – to be provided with food.[2]
  • 1510s – the price of a passage.[3]
  • 1560s – a passenger.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The money charged for a journey by bus, train, plane or taxi.
  2. A paying passenger, especially in a taxi.
  3. Food and drink; diet.

Verb

  1. To get on or manage in a particular way: he fared well.
  2. To turn out or happen, with it as subject.
  3. (archaic) To eat or dine.
  4. (archaic) To go or travel.

Word family

  • farer
  • airfare
  • carfare
  • fieldfare
  • thoroughfare
  • farebox
  • infare

Usage notes

Fare, a litter of pigs (1557), is a separate word, an alteration of farrow.[6][4]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press