fora

Forms

fora (not comparable)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote fora and foras.^[2][3] Bluteau (1712–1728) and many later writers spelt it fóra.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin forās (“to the outside, out of doors”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fora and, with the Latin -s, Old Galician-Portuguese foras in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1][5] The form without -s, an analogical change, was in use at least from the 11th century.^[6] Nascentes reviews the explanations: Bréal assumed a Latin ablative *fora, which Meyer-Lübke also accepted, while Nascentes himself preferred to leave the loss of the -s unexplained.^[7]

The same Latin word is Galician fóra, Spanish fuera, Catalan fora, Italian fuori, French hors and Romanian fără (“without”).^[8][1] In Late Latin this adverb and its partner almost entirely replaced extrā.^[9]

De Vaan explains the Latin adverb as the accusative plural of a noun *forā- (“door”), “to the doors”, beside the locative forīs (“at the doors”); both belong with the Latin noun for “door” and go back to a root noun meaning “door”.^[10] Wiktionary sets this under Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- (“door, gate”), with θύρα (thúra) and the English word door.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters write the Romance word early: exetis illa casa de fora “you go out of that house” in 1038, and in aldea aut in monte aut foras de uilla “in the village, in the hills or outside the town” in a text of 1188–1230.^[6] The first Galician-Portuguese text with it is a document of 1228: o senor da casa cum seus uiçinos deyteo fora “the master of the house and his neighbours threw him out”.^[6] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use it both as an adverb and as a preposition meaning “except”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word already had the sense of being outside oneself, as in fora de seu siso “out of his mind”.^[6] Bluteau (1712–1728) sets fóra against dentro, and Morais (1789) adds “free from” (fora de perigo) and “far from”.^[4][11] Modern usage has it for being away from home, for being abroad, for throwing something away, for “all along” (pela vida fora), and as a cry to make someone leave or to call a ball out in sport.^[2]

Brazilian informal speech turned it into a noun: um fora is a blunder, and levar um fora is to be turned down.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 1038 – de fora in a Latin charter.^[6][2]
• 1228 – deyteo fora in a Galician document.^[6]
• 1262 – the old form foras.^[6]
• 13th century – afora “away from” and “except”.^[3]
• 13th century – fora “except” in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[6]
• 1350 – fora in the Trasladação de S. Nicolau.^[12]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Fora with Latin foris, and pera fora with foras.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau spells the word fóra.^[4]
• 1789 – Morais adds the sense “free from”.^[11]

Meanings

Adverb

1. outside, on the outer side: As crianças brincam lá fora.^[2][14][1]
2. Away from home or from one's usual place: Esta noite dormimos fora.^[2][1]
3. abroad, in another country.^[2][1]
4. Away, into the bin: deitar fora, jogar fora.^[2][15][1]
5. All along, throughout: pela estrada fora.^[2][14]

Preposition

1. except, apart from: Vieram todos, fora o meu tio.^[2][1]
2. Besides, in addition to.^[2][15]

Interjection

1. Out!, said to make someone leave.^[2][1]
2. (sport) Out!, of a ball that lands outside the court.^[2]

Noun

1. (Brazil, informal) A blunder, a gaffe.^[2][1]
2. (Brazil, informal) A rejection, a brush-off: levar um fora.^[2][1]

Word family

• afora

Related words

• Latin forās
• Galician fóra
• Spanish fuera

Usage notes

Fora de is the compound preposition “outside of”, and Brazilian dar o fora means to clear off or to break off a relationship.^[2] The same spelling is also the pluperfect of ser and ir (eu fora, ele fora), from Latin fueram.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fora
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fora
4. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fora
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. fora
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. fora
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. fora
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3431
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 970
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 625
12. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. fora
13. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fora
14. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fora
15. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. fora
16. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. fora