To appraise, estimate, or assess the worth of something in advance; to calculate value beforehand.
From 'fore-' (before) + 'value' (worth, assessment). Emerged in early modern English commercial terminology as business practices required advance appraisal of goods and assets.
Medieval merchants developed elaborate 'forevalue' systems—written estimates that locked in prices before goods arrived—creating the ancestor of modern futures trading and insurance, essentially betting on what things would be worth later.
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