before: [OE] Before is a Germanic compound, made up of *bi- ‘by’ and *forana ‘from the front’ (the resulting *biforana entered Old English as beforan). The second element, *forana, is a derivative of *fora, source of English for; this originally meant ‘before’, and only gradually developed the senses we are familiar with today. => for[before etymology, before origin, 英语词源]