Where does “before” come from?
before (Middle English) comes from Old English beforan, from Old English be-, from Old English hrōpan, from Proto-West Germanic hrōpan, from Proto-Germanic hrōpaną, from Proto-Indo-European ḱer-, from Proto-Indo-European kr̥-, from Proto-Indo-European ker- — army.
Ancestry of “before”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old English | beforan | before |
| 2 | Old English | be- | a productive prefix usually used to form verbs... |
| 3 | Old English | hrōpan | to shout, proclaim; cry out, scream, howl; to cry... |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | hrōpan | to cry out, to call, to shout |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | hrōpaną | to cry out, call, shout |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱer- | to grow, to make grow, to nourish; to plait,... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | kr̥- | to turn, to bend |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ker- | army |
Words derived from “before”