Hence We Go Thither

Wherefore forgo we what came afore

I was watching a video online, in which the presenter used a word which he pronounced "AFFermentioned." The word, of course, was aforementioned, and the first part of that word is afore. Afore, like before and fore, means front or in front of. You don't here the word afore much these days, unless you're on a sailing vessel, where you might also hear abaft, abeam, astern, and athwart. Aforementioned means mentioned before. Because afore isn't common anymore, some people don't recognize it—and don't know how to pronounce aforementioned: it's afore-mentioned.

Prepositions, especially antique ones, often show up in words that mean something else, leading to confusion. For example, take the old joke:

JULIET: Wherefore art thou, Romeo?

ROMEO: I'm over here!

This plays off the where in wherefore, but wherefore doesn't mean where. Wherefore means What came before this? From where did we get here?—or, put more simply: why? It makes sense when you consider therefore: That's what came before this; that's from where we got here—that's why.

Then there are words that use here, there, and where—or antique versions of them—to refer to an act or a point in time. Hither, thither, and whither mean here, there, and where, and are used in words like hitherto (up to this time). Hence, thence, and whence mean from here, from there, and from where, and are used in words like henceforth (from here forward).

It's worth mentioning forego and forgo here. To forgo something is to go without something, and to forego something is to go in front of it. They're different words—but forgo is sometimes spelled forego, so what can you do?