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forsan

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word forsan

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*bʰr-ti-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɔr.san][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfɔr.san][1]

Forms

forsan (not comparable)[1] A form forsam is found in some manuscripts and an inscription of the 1st century AD.[2]

Etymology

It is a fusion of fors (“chance”) and an (“whether”), shortened from fors sit an, "it may be chance whether"; compare forsitan.[2][3][4] De Vaan traces fors to Proto-Italic *forti- (“luck”) and, with a question mark, to Proto-Indo-European *bʰr-ti- (“bearing, case”), from the root of ferō (“to carry”), though Ernout and Meillet rejected that link.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds the first certain example in Lucretius, and a doubtful one in Terence.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means it may be, perhaps, with the subjunctive or the indicative: a speaker in Virgil tells his companions that perhaps one day it will be a joy to remember even this.[4] Horace and Statius also use it, and it can qualify a single word.[4] The grammarians call it poetic, and the TLL finds it mostly in poets down to the latest Latin, with the Bellum Africum among the few prose examples.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a hardship one may one day remember with joy.[4][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it.[4][6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Perhaps, perchance, it may be.[4][3][1]

Usage notes

It belongs with the other adverbs of doubt made from fors, forsitan, fortasse and forte.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Forsan.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/forsan. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·