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[OE] Forth can be traced back to the same Indo-European source, *pr, as produced English first, for, fore, foremost, former, from, and before. It formed the basis of a word *prto ‘forwards’, whose Germanic descendant *furtha gave German fort, Dutch voort, and English forth. Modern English forward(s) [OE], which has largely replaced forth in general use, was originally a compound formed from forth and -ward. Other related forms include afford, which originally meant ‘accomplish, fulfil’, forthwith [14], at first literally ‘along with’, hence ‘at the same time as’ and ‘immediately’, and further.
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