aforethought adj.

Middle English, from Old English onforan, contraction of prepositional phrase on foran "before in place, at the beginning of, in front of," from on (prep.), see a- (1), + foran (adv.) "in front," dative of for. In some cases probably it represents Old English ætforan "at-fore."

Attested from early 14c. as a preposition, "before in time," and as a conjunction, "earlier than the time when, before." Once the literary equivalent of before, it now has been replaced by that word except in nautical use, colloquial dialects, and in combinations such as aforesaid, aforethought.

Old English þencan "imagine, conceive in the mind; consider, meditate, remember; intend, wish, desire" (past tense þohte, past participle geþoht), probably originally "cause to appear to oneself," from Proto-Germanic *thankjan (source also of Old Frisian thinka, Old Saxon thenkian, Old High German denchen, German denken, Old Norse þekkja, Gothic þagkjan).

Old English þencan is the causative form of the distinct Old English verb þyncan "to seem, to appear" (past tense þuhte, past participle geþuht), from Proto-Germanic *thunkjan (source also of German dünken, däuchte). Both are from PIE *tong- "to think, feel" which also is the root of thought and thank.

The two Old English words converged in Middle English and þyncan "to seem" was absorbed, except for its preservation in archaic methinks "it seems to me."

As a noun, think, "act of prolonged thinking," is attested by 1834. The figurative thinking cap is attested from 1839.

"planned beforehand, premeditated," 1702, short for prepensed, prepenst (mid-15c.), past-participle adjective from obsolete verb prepense "consider beforehand," originally purpense, from Old French pourpenser "to plan, meditate" (11c.), from pro "before" (see pro-) + penser "to think," from Latin pensare "weigh, consider," frequentative of pendere "to hang, cause to hang; weigh; pay" (from PIE root *(s)pen- "to draw, stretch, spin").

Usually in the legal phrase malice prepense (with French word order) "wrong or injury purposefully done or planned in advance" (see malice). This is attested from mid-15c. as malice prepensed. Related: Prepensive.