. 212 
The Anglo-Saxon fon is very fre- 
quently prefixed to verbs with the fgnifi- 
cation of away, as in fon San San, to go 
away; fop-cypipan, te turn away; Foji- 
meitan, to melt away. In old writers, 
fuch compounds as for-wear,, to wear 
away ; for-drive, to driye away; conti- 
nurily occur ; and the words forget, for- 
give, fortid, forlorn, &c. are eafily traced 
to the fame origin. Mr. Tooke’s cau/e 
here deferts us entirely ; he has not even 
introduced the leaft notice of this ufe of 
Sor in what he fays on the fubje&. That 
he fhould have omitted all mention of it 
in this part of his work is not, however, 
more furprifing, than the manner in which 
he Aas alluded to it in two other paflages. 
Ina note to p. 931. (4to. ed.) where he 
has fatisfactorily fhewn that the French 
ors is a corruption of the Latin foris, we 
are told, that the words forfeit, foreclofe, 
and many others where for occurs with 
this meaning, are derived from the French. 
And at p. 495. we have the following line 
of Chaucer: 
** I fe no more but that I am fords.” 
introduced as an illuftration of the word 
forth: ‘* fardo, i. e. forth done, i.e. done 
to go firih, i. e. out of doors,” forth being 
derived from the French fors (now written 
hors), and that from the Latin foris. I 
fhould have thought that every reader of 
Anglo-Saxon mutt have known that this 
ule of for in our language was much prior’ 
- to any of its acquilitions from either the 
French or the Latin: and that no one, 
with the bare knowledge that the Gothic 
derivative fon fignifies way, and tnat for, 
in compofition, is rendered. by a-way, 
could admit a doubt of their being the fame 
word. 
It is needlefs to fhew, that the ufe of 
jor, asa conjunction, is to be referred to 
the fame import which belongs to it asa 
prepofition. Mr. Tooke has fufficiently 
hewn the abfurdity of fuppofing any cha- 
Hath travell’d on to age’s fteepy night ; 
And all thofe beauties, whereof now he’s 
king, 
Are vanithing, or vanifh’d, out of fight, 
tealing away the treafure of his {pring ; 
For fuch a time do 1 now fortify 
Again® confouncing age’s cruel knife.” 
SHAKESPEARE’s Sonnets, v. 869. 
With'thofe who adopt Mr. Teoke’s expla- 
nation of againff (as fignifying meeting), this 
reciprocation of offices will add weight to the 
etymology which I have been afligning to 
for. 
Remarks on Mr. Horne Tooke’s Etymologics. [O@ober 15 
racteriftic diftinétion. As, however, its 
ufe in the former capacity was fubfequent 
to its employment in the latter, we find its 
fignification here more frequently obfcured 
by ellipfes, and diftorted by corruption. 
The German fiir, which has deviated 
much lefs from its ftriét primitive fignifi- 
cation than our for*, is ftili confined to 
the office of a prepofition. 
To remove the etymology, which ¥ 
have here been offering, ftill further be- 
yond the uncertainty of conjeture, it may 
be obferved, that the Germans, befides the 
prepofition far, which they have in eom- 
mon with us, employ very frequently in 
the room of our for the word wegen, 
whofe identity with weg, way, cannot ad- 
mit of adoubt. ‘* Diefer fache qwegen,”* 
Jor (on account of ) this matter; defawe- 
gex, there-fore ; wefweven, where-fore. 
The Anglo-Saxon prefix they render by 
the fame word : inftead of fop niman, to 
take away ; Foji-xan, to go away ; Fopi- 
yendan, to fend away; they have weg- 
nebmen, weg-gehen, weg-fenden. 
Forth. Mr. Tooke juftly confiders 
forth as the fame with the prefix fort 5 
and though he has given them an erroneous 
origin, he is nearer the truth probably in 
his etymology of thefe, than in that which 
he affigns to the prepofition. Though we 
muft not allow the French fors, and the 
Latin forts, to interfere with the direct. 
Gothic extraétion of our Englith forth, 
there feems plaufible reafon for admitting 
them to be collateral branches of the fame 
family. We know that a very confiderable 
portion, at leaft, of the Greek vocabulary 
is of Gothic derivation ; and every proba- 
bility indicates that the word srogos, the 
immediate origin of foris, foramen, our 
Englith pore, &c. is. the fame with the, 
Anglo-Saxon fon. Without infifting on 
the particular accuracy of the following 
table, it may ferve at leaft fora general 
* The moft frequent ufe of the German 
Jer is in fuch expreffions as *¢ left for dead;”* 
—‘‘taken for granted ;”"—* the paffes for a 
virgin,” &c. where Mr. Tooke’s fubftitute 
¢caufe is totally inapplicable, whilft it re- 
ceives a very ready interpretation from Eon. 
Thus they fay, was far wein trinket ihr j;— 
what do you drink for (in the way of ) wine 5 
was fur biicher wollt ihr haben ;—what will 
you have for (in the way of ) books. 
+ The Saxons feem to have employed 
them indifferently incompofition Fon-fanan, 
and -oy\S-faman were ufed alike for to dee 
part, to die, 
family, 
