a note or annotation written beforehand or placed at the beginning of a text.
From Old English 'fore-' meaning 'before' combined with 'note,' from Latin 'nota' meaning 'mark' or 'sign.' The compound emerged in Middle English to describe preliminary written remarks.
Medieval scribes used forenotes like modern prefaces, but the term shows how 'fore' was actively used to create new words describing things that come first—it's the same prefix that gives us 'forecast,' 'foresee,' and 'foreword.'
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