An introductory section of a book, typically written by someone other than the author.
Calque translation of German 'Vorwort' (vor = before, wort = word), created in the 19th century to replace the Latin-derived 'preface'. Literally means 'words that come before'.
Foreword is a beautiful example of linguistic nationalism - German scholars in the 1800s created 'Vorwort' to replace Latin 'praefatio', and English borrowed this calque rather than the original German word. It's often confused with 'forward', but the spelling preserves its literal meaning of 'fore-word' - the words that come before the main text.
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