Firste

Part of speech: adjective, adverb

Definitions

1. Coming earliest in a sequence or series ; holding the highest rank or greatest importance ; happening before anything else in time or order
2. Occurring at the very beginning of a sequence, counted as the initial one ; ranking above all others in status or significance ; preceding every other action or event
3. Placed at the front of an order of events, the leading one in a series ; of the greatest rank or influence ; ahead of everything else in time

Etymology: In Middle English, "firste" was a spelling of the adjective we now write "first," with the final "e" marking an inflected form, as many adjectives then had. Medieval scribes spelled the word in many ways, and the final "e" eventually dropped out of pronunciation and spelling. The word goes back to Old English "fyrst," which is built from the root of "fore," as in "before" and "forward." Its ending is the superlative suffix "-st," the same one found in "last" and "best." "First" therefore literally means "foremost," the most forward of a series. Its noun use, for a beginning or a period of time, was present in Old English as well.