fors

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈfɔrs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfɔrs]^[1]

Forms

fors f (genitive fortis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *forti- (“luck”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥-ti- (“bearing, what is brought”), from the root of ferō “to bear”.^[2][1][3] Cognate with Sanskrit भृति (bhṛtí, “support”), Old Irish brith (“birth”) and English birth.^[3][1][4] fortūna is its derivative.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, Köbler from Ennius.^[2][7] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[7]

Semantic evolution

It was chance or luck seen as directing events, the lot that attaches to a thing, a chance happening, and with a genitive the chance of doing something.^[3] It was used almost only in the nominative and in the ablative forte “by chance”.^[2][8] Phrases with fors gave adverbs “perhaps”: fors sit an gave forsitan, and fors itself was used as an adverb in Virgil and Horace.^[2][3] Cicero says “let chance see to these things”.^[8]

Medieval writers used it for fate, glossed by Old English wyrd.^[9] Its derivative fortuītus gave English fortuitous in the 1650s, and fortūna gave English fortune about 1300.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero says “let chance see to these things”.^[8][7]
• c. 1300 – English fortune is recorded.^[6]
• 1650s – English fortuitous is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Chance, luck.^[3]
2. Destiny, lot.^[3]
3. A chance happening, accident.^[3]
4. (with genitive) A chance, possibility (of).^[3]
5. fors sit an, it might be that, perhaps.^[3]

Word family

• diffors
• fortuītus

Related words

• ferō
• fortūna
• English fortune
• English fortuitous

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts cāsus, chance as a blind natural agent, with fors, chance pictured almost as a being that toys with mortals, and with fortūna, fortune that is not blind.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper