Fork

I remember being a pre-school child laying in bed one night wondering how things got their names.
 
As I lay in bed, I thought of the corner store beside our house. At the back of store was a mysterious room that always seemed dark when I walked past the open door. As I lay in bed, I imagined a group of adults sitting in a circle in this room picking up different objects and trying to decide what to call them. At one point, a person held up an object and everyone suggested different sounds until finally someone said, “Fork.” There were grunts and nods of approval. And so, that’s how the fork got its name, or so I thought at the time. A dream? A memory?
 
The Online Etymological Dictionary tells us that the word fork comes from Old English forca (forked instrument) and Latin furca (two-pronged fork). Aside from this, the origins of the word fork are uncertain. A colleague mentioned that the word furca is also found in the language of the Dacian territory of Romania. And so, quite likely that the Romans in ancient Romania would likely have brought this word to Latin.
 
Table forks appear in the mid-15th century but were not in common use until the 17th century.
 
Yet another example of an ordinary everyday word of heart and home which has come to us almost unchanged over the centuries.
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
https://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/the-fork-explained