foras

Forms

forās (not comparable)^[1] Inscriptions have farās.^[2]

Etymology

It is the accusative plural of an old noun ⟨*forā⟩, “door”, so first “to the doors”; forīs (“outside”) is the locative.^[3][2][4] De Vaan traces it to Proto-Italic *forā- and the root noun Proto-Indo-European *dʰwṓr (“door”), also in forēs (“doors”); cognate with Ancient Greek θύρα (thúra, “door”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐍂 (daur, “gate”), Old Irish dorus (“door”) and Lithuanian durys (“door”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan's first author is Naevius.^[3] In a tragedy of Ennius, Hector leads his armed men out (ēdūcit forās).^[2]

Semantic evolution

With verbs of motion it is out of doors, outside a house, as Plautus' old woman pushed out so that she will not know, and outside a city or camp.^[2] It is away from home, as invited out to dinner, into other people's hands (Plautus: I lend your cloak to nobody), and to public knowledge: Terence's ēlātum forās, “made known”.^[2] In general it is forth or outwards, as Ennius' light breaking out, Petronius uses it without motion, “outside”, and Apuleius as a preposition, “out of”.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “out of doors, out, in public, forth, outside”.^[5] In Medieval Latin it is “outside” without motion and a preposition with the accusative.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius.^[3][7]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of going out of a house.^[2][7]
• 190–159 BC – Terence in the sense “to public knowledge”.^[2][7]
• before 66 AD – Petronius in the sense “outside”.^[2][7]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Out of doors, outside (with verbs of motion).^[2][1][5]
2. Away from home; into the hands of outsiders; to public knowledge.^[2]
3. Forth, outwards, (later) outside.^[2][5][6]

Preposition

1. (Late and Medieval Latin) Out of, outside.^[2][6]

Related words

• forīs
• forēs
• forum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de