forge [ME] In early use, to forge meant not only to work metal but also had the general sense ‘make, construct’. The word comes from Latin fabricare ‘to fabricate’, from fabrica ‘manufactured object, workshop’ source of *fabric. The sense ‘make a fraudulent imitation’ arose early in the word’s history, before 1325. Forge as in forge ahead [E17th] is a different word. It was first used of ships and may be a variant of force [ME] which comes from Latin fortis ‘strong’, source also of fort [LME].