When used figuratively with certain verbs ' for- ward ' has the meaning of ' advance the interests of, help the progress of an undertaking.' The verba in AV are (1) set, 1 Ch 23^ ' to set forward the work of the house of the Lord' (nsj^, RV as AVra ' to oversee ' : so in Ezr 3*- ' RV changes AV ' set forward ' into ' have the oversight,' though in 2 Ch 34'- ' to set it forward ' is accepted for the same * Heb. with RVm ' to preside over it ' ; and in 34'* ' overseers ' of A V is changed into ' set forward,' for Heb. c'n>-j;). The phrase is applied to evil works as well as to good. Job 30'^ ' they set forward my calamity ' (i'?"!") ; Wis 14'^ ' the singular diligence of the artificer did help to set forward the ignorant to more superstition ' (wpoerpi^aTo, RV ' urged forward by the ambition of the artificer '). To those ex- amples RV adds 1 Co 16' ' that ye may set me for- ward on ray journey,' and 2 Co 1", 3 Jn * (all irpo- T^fiTTu), where the meaning is somewhat different, to start one upon a journey. Shakespeare often uses the phrase intransitively (never trans, as here), as / Henri/ IV. II. iii. 38, ' We are prepared. I \vill set forward to-night.' The expression 'set fonvard' in this literal sense is also found in AV, but only in Nu, where it occurs 15 times of the marching of the Israelites in the Wilderness. (2) Help, only Zee 1"> ' they helped forsvard the affliction ' (niy "VlS RVm 'helped the evil'), that is, the heathen not only acted as God's instruments in chastising Israel, but went further. (3) Haste, only 1 Es 1" ' the Lord is with me hastin" me forward ' (^xi- OTTfi/Sux). (4) Brinrj, only 3 Jn ' 'whom if thou bring forward on tlieir journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well' (RV ' set forward,' as above). The same meaning is found intransitively with go in Gn 26" ' waxed great, and went forward ' ('^ijin Siji %-hn, lit. as AVm, ' went going ' ; RV ' grew more and more'); and Ad. Est 13\ The literal sense occurs in Nu 2** 10* and ('go on forward') 1 S 10^. Cf. Goldsmith, Vicar, xi. (Globe ed. p. 21' L 3), 'Mr. Burchell, who was of the party, was always fond of seeing some innocent amusement going forward ' ; and Shaks. Mids. Night's Dream, TV. ii. 17, ' If our sport had gone forward, we had all been made men.
In modern English ' forward ' as an adj. means presumptuous, impertinent. This meaning is found as early as the beg. of the 17th cent. ; thus, Warner, Alb. Eng. IX. xlvii. 221, 'They tould how forward Maidens weare, how proude if in request.' But it
• The only remaining occurrence of the infin. is 1 t'h 1621, where AV has * to excel,* AVm *to oversee,' and RV 't« lead.' 'The meaning is undoubtedly always ' to preside over,' whether worlonen or more especially a choir of singers. Th» ptcp. seen in 2 Ch 3413 is found in the title of many psalmi and translated ' the chief (RV Chief) Musician.'
FOUL
FOUNDATION
61
does not occur in AV. Tliere the adj. means either ready, 2 Co 8'" ' to be forward a year ago ' (t4 eaeiii, RV ' to will '), or zealous, 2 Co 8" ' bein" more forward, of his own accord he went unto you {a-TTovSaiiTepos, II V 'very earnest') ; Gal 2'" 'which I also was forward to do ' {4<rirovda<!a, RV ' was zealous'); and 1 Mac I", where the zeal is in a bad cause {wpoeOvfiTjOTiaii' riiies). Cf. Hall, Contempla- tions {iVorks, ed. 1G34, ii. 52), ' Wliat marvell is it if God bee not forward to give, where we care not to aske, or aske as if we cared not to receive?' and (for the meaning 'ready') Livingstone (Select Biuqraphies, Wod. i. 229), ' Mr. James went back with him, and finding him forward to go in with him . . . believed him.'
Forwardness occurs once in Shakespeare, and then in later writers frequently in the mod. sense of over-confidence, presumption. As You Like It, I. ii. 159—
' Since the youth will not be intreated. His own peril on his forwardness.'
But in AV the only meaning is readiness or zeal. Once it is in a bad cause, Wis 14" (a-TrouS^ ; RV ' zeal ') ; elsewhere only 2 Co 8" (airovSn, RV ' earnestness '), and 9^ ' I know the forwardness of your mind ' (t^v Trpoffvfxlav ifiuy, RV ' your readi- ness'). So Hall ( IKor/w, ii. IG), referring to the Wise Men from the East, says, 'God encourages their holy forwardnesse from heaven.'
J. HA.STINGS.
FOUL (Old "Eng. fill) is of the same root (Sans- krit/)«, to stink) asGr. iriiovand Lat. p««, purulent matter, as from a sore, and its earliest meaning is loathsoDU, whether to sight or smell. It is applied, for e.xample, to blood, Wis 1 1'' ' a perpetual running river troubled with foul blood,' in reference to the Egyptiftfi plague (aVynari \v8pwdei, the only occurrence of this adj. in bibl. Greek, lit. ' with blood like gore,' RV 'with clotted blood'). In this sense ' f ^ J ' is applied to disease, as Shaks. Hamlet, IV. i. 21—