forsit

Forms

forsit (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fors (“chance”) + sit (“be”), the noun with the present subjunctive of the verb.^[2][1][3] The TLL thinks the words grew together from ⟨fors sit⟩, unless it is a shortened forsitan (“perhaps”);^[4] de Vaan derives forsitan from ⟨*fors sīt an⟩ “perchance it be that”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only classical author is Horace, in the Satires: ut forsit honōrem iūre mihi invideat quīvīs, “so that anyone might perhaps rightly begrudge me the honour”.^[4][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Priscian quotes Horace's line and explains forsit as forsitan.^[4][7] The TLL, following Meyer-Lübke, traces Italian forse (“perhaps”) to it.^[4]

Medieval writers used it again: the MLW quotes a poem that asks the reader whether he perhaps wants to know the author, and a proverb of Arnulf's about the lazy man who will not plough in the cold and perhaps will have nothing in the end.^[8]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Satires.^[4][2][9]
• 6th century AD – Priscian cites the line of Horace.^[4][9]
• 1054–1056 – Arnulf uses it in a proverb.^[8][9]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Perhaps.^[2][6][8]

Related words

• forsitan
• fortasse
• forte

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de