Etymology: Old English for- , fær- = Old Frisian for- , far- , Old Saxon for- , far- (Dutch ver- ), Old High German far- , fir- , fer- (Middle High German and modern German ver- ), Old Norse for- (Swedish för- , Danish for- ); the Old Norse fyrer- (see fore- prefix) though formally distinct, often corresponds in use with this prefix. The Old English form (like the other forms quoted) seems to represent (with obscured vowel due to absence of stress) the three Old Germanic prefixes *fer- , fra- , fur- (Gothic faír- , fra- , faúr- ), which correspond formally to Greek περι- , προ- , παρα- , representing various ablaut-grades of the Aryan root *pr- : see for prep., conj., n., and adv. and fore n. Functionally, the three prefixes do not seem to be clearly distinguished even in Gothic; but in most cases when a verb with Old English for- or German ver- has a Gothic equivalent, the prefix appears as fra- , which seems to have been originally its stressed form: compare the two Old English forms ˈfracod and forˈcúð (see forcouth adj.), which are believed to be accentual variants of the representative of pre-Germanic *prognto-, despicable. From the predominant meaning of the root, it may be inferred that the primary notion expressed by the prefix is that of ‘forward, forth’. The various uses in the Germanic languages may be plausibly explained as originating from this, though the exact process of their development is in many points uncertain: see Grimm's Deutsches Wb. s.v. ver-. The verbs formed with this prefix often correspond in signification to Greek verbs formed with one or other of the cognate prefixes περι-, προ-, παρα-, and to Latin verbs with per- or pro-.