fors

Forms

fors^[1] Old French foers (10th century) and fors.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French fors, inherited from Latin forīs (“outside, out of doors”).^[2][4][1][5] The Latin word was an adverb in the classical language and was also used as a preposition in the imperial period.^[2][6] It is a doublet of hors, which replaced it.^[1][2]

Cognate with Italian fuori, Old Occitan fors, Catalan fora, Spanish fuera, Portuguese fora and Romanian fără (“without”).^[7][8] As a prefix the word was also used in Old Occitan and Italian;^[9] Bloch and Wartburg note that it sometimes merged with the Germanic prefix seen in German ver-, as in Old French forbannir beside Frankish *firbannjan, but that the Germanic share in the Romance prefix is hard to measure.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Jonas fragment of Valenciennes (938–950) in foers de “out of”: Si escit foers de la civitate “and he went out of the city”.^[2][8] The adverb “outside” is recorded at the end of the 10th century, and the sense “except” about 1100 in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old French fors was both an adverb meaning “outside” and a preposition meaning “out of” and “except”; the spatial sense passed to hors.^[6][2] Very early, in the 11th century, it also became a prefix meaning “outside, beyond”, which formed many words, most of which have died out (forjeter, forligner, forlonger), and survives hidden in older derivatives and compounds such as forcener and formariage.^[6][2]

In the 17th century the preposition was falling out of use: Vaugelas advised in 1647 that it be kept out of prose, and while Furetière still treated it as living in 1690, Richelet (1680) and the Académie (1694) gave it as obsolete.^[6] Bouhours's verdict, reported by the Trévoux dictionary in 1704, is the point from which the TLFi counts it as out of use.^[2] The classical period also had the compound fors excepté (1665, La Fontaine).^[3][6] Today the word is an archaism kept chiefly in the saying tout est perdu, fors l'honneur, attributed to Francis I after his defeat at Pavia.^[6][10]

Timeline

• 938–950 – Foers de “out of” appears in the Jonas fragment of Valenciennes.^[2]
• late 10th century – Used as an adverb meaning “outside” in the Clermont Passion.^[2]
• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland uses fors for “except”.^[2]
• 1647 – Vaugelas recommends banning it from prose.^[6]
• 1665 – Fors excepté is used by La Fontaine.^[3]
• 1694 – The Académie records it as out of use.^[6]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (archaic, literary) except, save, apart from.^[2][10][1]
2. Tout est perdu, fors l'honneur: “all is lost save honour”, the saying attributed to Francis I after Pavia.^[10][2][8]

Related words

• hors
• dehors
• forain
• faubourg
• fourvoyer
• Latin forīs

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 700b
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert