Fromweard

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Archaic term describing someone or something that is departing, setting out, or moving away from a place
2. An old word meaning going forth or leaving, used of a person or thing that is on the way out
3. Obsolete adjective for being in the act of departing or turned away from a point of origin

Etymology: "Fromweard" is an Old English word, recorded in the poetic and prose texts of the period, built from "fram" (from, forth, away) and "weard" (toward, facing, a direction). Its literal sense was "going forth" or "departing, on the way out," and it was used of people setting off on a journey or of things directed away from a place. Its meaning shifted over the centuries. Forms of the word described a person being "forward" in the sense of ready, prompt, or eager to act, and the spelling and sense moved toward the modern "forward" in Middle English. Because "forward" and "toward" both preserve the "weard" direction element, the word is a close relative of "backward," "homeward," and "upward" in English. Its modern senses, such as ahead in time, eager, or presumptuous, all grow out of that original idea of facing and moving onward.