Forman

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name, borne by people such as the Czech-born film director Miloš Forman, who directed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2. A surname shared by various people, notably the Czech-American filmmaker Miloš Forman, known for acclaimed movies
3. Used as a family name, most famously by the director Miloš Forman, whose films include Amadeus and Hair

Etymology: "Forman" is an obsolete form of "foreman", and the older spelling preserves the word's structure more clearly. It comes from Middle English "foremon" and "forman", which sit alongside cognates across the Germanic languages: Dutch "voorman", German "Vormann", Danish "formand", and Swedish "förman" all name a person placed in front or in charge. The usual analysis breaks the word into "fore-", meaning in front, and "man", a person, so a foreman is literally the man at the front. The word's sense of a person set over others, particularly a supervisor of workers, grows naturally from that front-position idea. Icelandic "formaður" shows the same pattern, suggesting the compound was widespread in the medieval Germanic world rather than peculiar to English.