- forum
- mid-15c., "place of assembly in ancient Rome," from L. forum "marketplace" apparently akin to foris, foras "out of doors, outside." Sense of "assembly, place for public discussion" first recorded 1690.
- forensic
- 1580s, from L. forensis "of a forum, place of assembly," from forum (see forum). Used in sense of "pertaining to legal trials," as in forensic medicine (1845).
- rostrum
- 1542, from L. rostrum, name of the platform stand for public speakers in the Forum in ancient Rome. It was decorated with the beaks of ships taken in the first naval victory of the Roman republic, over Antium, in 338 B.C.E., and the word's older sense is "end of a ship's prow," lit. "beak, muzzle, snout," originally "means of gnawing," instrument noun form of rodere "to gnaw" (see rodent). Cf. claustrum "lock, bar," from claudere "to shut." Extended sense of any platform for public speaking is first recorded 1766. Plural form is rostra.
- forest
- c.1300, "extensive tree-covered district," especially one set aside for royal hunting and under the protection of the king, from O.Fr. forest, probably from L.L./M.L. forestem silvam "the outside woods," a term from the Capitularies of Charlemagne denoting "the royal forest;" perhaps via O.H.G. forst, from L. foris "outside," with a sense of "beyond the park," the park being the main or central fenced woodland. Another theory traces it through M.L. forestis, originally "forest preserve, game preserve," from L. forum in legal sense "court, judgment;" in other words "land subject to a ban." Replaced O.E. wudu.