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Origin and history of fro

fro(adv., prep.)

"away, backwards," c. 1200, Northern English and Scottish dialectal fra, Midlands dialect fro, from Old Norse fra "from," from Proto-Germanic *fra "forward, away from," from PIE *pro- (see pro-), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before, toward, near," etc. The Norse word is equivalent to Old English fram, thus fro is a doublet of from.

also from c. 1200

Entries linking to fro

from(prep., adv.)

Old English fram, preposition denoting departure or movement away in time or space, from Proto-Germanic *fra "forward, away from" (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German, Gothic fram "from, away," Old Norse fra "from," fram "forward"), from PIE *pro-mo-, suffixed form of *pro (see pro-), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward." The Germanic sense of "moving away" apparently evolved from the notion of "forward motion." It is related to Old English fram "forward; bold; strong," and fremian "promote, accomplish" (see frame (v.)).

froward(adv.)

12c., froward, fraward "turned against, perverse, disobedient; peevish, petulant; adverse, difficult," as a preposition, "away from," the Northern form of Old English fromweard (see fromward), with Old Norse fra (see fro) in place of English from. Opposite of toward, it renders Latin pervertus in early translations of the Psalms, and also meant "about to depart, departing," and "doomed to die." Related: Frowardly; frowardness.

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Trends of fro

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

valgus
Said to be probably related to Sanskrit valgati "to move up and down," Old English wealcan "to roll, move to and fro" (see...walk (v.)), perhaps on the notion of "go irregularly or to and fro" [Tucker]...."Yet the main characteristic of 'bow-legged' is the crookedness of the legs, not 'going up and down' or 'to and fro'" [de...
rock
), cause to sway back and forth; rock (someone) in a cradle," from late Old English roccian "move a child gently to and fro...The sense of of "sway to and fro under some impact or stress" is from late 14c., especially of vessels in the waves (1510s...The sense of "swing to and fro in or as in a rocking chair" is by 1795....
agitation
1560s, "debate, discussion" (on the notion of "a mental tossing to and fro"), from French agitation, from Latin agitationem...(nominative agitatio) "motion, agitation," noun of action from past-participle stem of agitare "move to and fro," frequentative...
cite
frequentative of ciere "to move, set in motion, stir, rouse, call, invite" from PIE root *keie- "to set in motion, to move to and fro...
waft
Possibly influenced by northern dialect waff "cause to move to and fro" (1510s), a variant of wave....
ricochet
"a verbal to-and-fro," and only in the phrase fable du ricochet, an entertainment in which the teller of a tale skillfully...
congee
Modern French congé), from Medieval Latin commeatus "leave, permission to depart," in classical Latin "passage, going to and fro...
demagogue
1640s, "an unprincipled popular orator or leader; one who seeks to obtain political power by pandering to the prejudices, wishes, ignorance, and passions of the people or a part of them," ultimately from Greek dēmagōgos "popular leader," also "leader of the mob," from dēmos "peop
ponder
mid-14c., ponderen, "to estimate the worth of, to appraise" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French ponderer "to weigh, poise" (14c., Modern French pondérer) and directly from Latin ponderare "ponder, consider, reflect," literally "to weigh," from pondus (genitive ponderis) "weig
data
1640s, "a fact given or granted," classical plural of datum, from Latin datum "(thing) given," neuter past participle of dare "to give" (from PIE root *do- "to give"). In classical use originally "a fact given as the basis for calculation in mathematical problems." From 1897 as "

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