Etymologically
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foris

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfɔ.rɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfɔː.ris][1]

Forms

foris f (genitive foris); third declension[1] It is mostly plural, forēs, for a folding door.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *fwor-i-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰuō̆r- (“door”), a root noun, perhaps used only in the plural or dual.[2] The adverbs forās and forīs continue cases of a stem *forā-, “to the door” and “at the door”.[2] Cognate with Sanskrit द्वार् (dvā́r-, “door, gate”), Ancient Greek θύρα (thúra, “door”), Lithuanian dùrys (“door”), Old Church Slavonic двьрь (dvĭrĭ, “door”), Welsh dor (“door”) and English door.[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it of a door creaking open.[4][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It was the door of a house or room, in the plural the two leaves of a folding door, and an entrance or opening, as of a beehive.[4][3] Plautus often has foris crepuit “the door creaked”.[5] Döderlein contrasts ostium, any door, and iānua, the house door.[7]

In medieval Latin forēs was a door or gate, an entrance, a frontier, and a beginning.[8][9] The adverb “outside” survives as Italian fuori and French hors, and Medieval Latin forms from it gave English foreign and probably forest.[1][10]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a creaking door.[4][6]
  • c. 1300 – English foreign is recorded, from Medieval Latin forāneus, from forīs.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A door; in the plural, a folding door, double doors.[4][5]
  2. An entrance, opening.[4]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A border; a beginning.[8]

Word family

  • forīnsecus
  • biforis
  • biforus
  • foricula
  • quadriforis
  • multiforis
  • multiforus
  • septiforis

Usage notes

The adverb forīs meant “out of doors, outside, abroad”, and forās “to the outside”.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com