Etymologically
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forum

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈfɔː.rəm/, US /ˈfɔːr.əm/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin forum (“marketplace, open space, public place”),[2][3][4] which is apparently related to forīs, forās “out of doors, outside”,[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- (“door, doorway”).[2] Hoad, NODE and the SOED say it first meant an enclosure surrounding a house, related to forēs “door”.[4][6][7] It is related to foreign and door.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The marketplace and place of public business in an ancient Roman city: 1460 in the OED, before 1464 in Barnhart.[8][3]

Semantic evolution

A court or tribunal is from the 17th century,[4] and figuratively from 1690.[8] An assembly or place for public discussion is from 1690 in Barnhart and the 1680s in Etymonline,[3][2] and NODE dates the modern sense, a meeting for open discussion, to the mid-18th century.[6] Forum shopping, a plaintiff's choice of the most favourable court, is American legal jargon from 1954.[8] An area of a website where users discuss things is a recent sense.[9]

Timeline

  • 1460 – a Roman marketplace.[8]
  • 1690 – a place of public discussion.[3]
  • 1735 – the forum as the place of public speaking.[8]
  • 1954 – forum shopping.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A meeting or place where people can discuss matters of public interest.
  2. A magazine, programme or the like that allows open discussion.
  3. An area of a website where users discuss subjects.
  4. The public square and marketplace of an ancient Roman city.
  5. (law) A court or tribunal.

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins