2385: Behind, Beside, & Before Jun 29, 2021

English has the words 'behind' and 'beside' and 'before', with the Old English 'bi-' (be-) indicating proximity—hence the derivative word 'by'—and yet there are still some disputes whether 'behind' and its earlier forms even existed before 'hind', or whether 'hind' was actually developed by backformation. However, there are a number of cognate words like the Old Norse hindr (Old English 'hinder') meaning 'obstacle; opposition', and the Latin 'contra' ('against') which do relate to physiological proximity. Other Germanic cognates to 'hind' have a meaning of something being distant and a few too do also mean 'at the back', but also 'at the side'. The evidence in fact is not as definitive as one might want necessarily.