Fothers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Historical units of dry measure for coal or other commodities ; an alternative spelling for "fathoms," a nautical unit of depth measurement ; bundles or loads, especially for transport or trade in certain regional dialects
2. Outdated terms for amounts used in trade or shipping of coal ; variant form of "fathoms," indicating underwater distances ; bundles or masses of material historically referenced in commerce
3. Obsolete commercial measuring units for goods like coal ; a nonstandard spelling of the seafaring depth unit "fathoms" ; groups or packs of items as referred to in some historical texts

Etymology: "Fothers" is simply the plural of "fother," a noun from Middle English that came into the language from Old Norse "fóðr," meaning feed or fodder. The same ancient root gave Old English "fōdor," so the word has Germanic roots that run deep in the language. Its cousins are still around in modern German, where "Futter" means feed, and in Dutch, where "voer" means pasture or fodder. Over time, "fother" narrowed from a general word for animal feed into a unit of weight. Its plural "fothers" is the form that survives in the historical sense of a measure of coal, a load carried or counted in bulk. The word is a doublet of "fodder" and "foeder," which means that all three descend from the same source but arrived in English by different routes and took on different shades of meaning.

Synonyms: others, companions, associates, peers, friends