Froe

Anne Lambert annelamb at GNV.FDT.NET
Fri Sep 22 01:07:27 UTC 2000


Incidentally , how do you people pronounce "clapboard"? I tend to
pronounce in /clab:@rd/.

"Douglas G. Wilson" wrote:

>
>
>> thanks to everyone who wrote in regarding 'fro'; had i checked
>> further i
>> could have deduced that fro was a variant of the wellknown words
>> froe and
>> frow, meaning, according to the american heritage second edition
>> college
>> dictionary, 'a cleaving tool having a heavy blade set at right
>> angles to
>> the handle,' (a definition which would mean nothing to all but
>> my best beginning students). the etymology is 'unknown.'
>
>
> The AH 4th ed. (online) shows
>
> ETYMOLOGY: Earlier frower. possibly from froward , turned away (of the
> handle)
>
> M-W and RH agree.
>
> I guess my tentative derivation from "Dutch wife" won't work. (^_^)
>
> -- Doug Wilson
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