Confused About Further and Farther and Compelled to Blog About It

This week I encountered the word impel where I would have expected the word compel. Why did the author use the former rather than the latter? Then later this week I was writing an email and wondered whether further or farther was the appropriate word. How do you know which is the good word to use, and speaking of which, that with which I struggle sometimes is whether to use which or that.

What’s the good word for each situation is not always determined by definition, but let’s start with those that are: impel and compel.

Compel is defined as “to force or drive, especially to a course of action” while impel is defined as “to drive or urge forward; press on; incite or constrain to action.” Not much difference. Other definitions of compel all have the word force in them, while neither definition of impel does (at least on dictionary.com). But other than that the definitions don’t provide a lot of separation of meaning. Let’s look at etymonline.com and see if the sources for both words sheds some light.

Compel came to English in the mid-1300s from the Old French word compeller, which came from the Latin word compellere, which means “to drive together, drive to one place” (when used of cattle) or “to force of compel” when used of persons. The Latin word was formed by attaching the prefix com- that means “together” together with pellere, which means “to drive” and from which we also get the word pulse. We also got impel from pellere, (in the early 1400s) with “im-“ as the prefix. In Latin, im- indicates entry, as in in, into, or upon.

Now we have some clarification. Impel should have a sense of acting upon something from outside. Compel is more of a force from within working together with outside influences. Its usage bears this out – compel is often used in the first person “I am compelled” while impel is rarely used in the first person.

So what about further and farther? The only difference dictionary.com provides in defining the two is that further has a tertiary definition of “additional; more” that farther does not. Both are used when describing a greater distance or more advanced point. Back to etymology.com to see if this helps clarify anything.

What we find is what I enjoy about words. Let’s begin with further, because it goes further back. While etymonline.com does not indicate the timing of its first use in English, it does show furthermore as appearing about 1200, which predates anything in the farther lineage. Further comes from the Old English word furđor if used as an adverb, or furđra as the adjective. Additionally, the etymonline.com clarifies for us that the word is “…etymologically representing either ‘forth-er’ or ‘fore-ther.’”

Moving farther ahead, to farther, we find that it first appeared in about 1300 as a variant of further, and etymonline tells us further that farther replaced ferrer as the comparative form of the Old English word fierr, that (which?) meant “far.” Then it goes on to explicate that fierr is “itself a comparative but no longer felt as one.” Etymonline.com also tells us that the vowel change (from u to a) was “influenced by the root vowel, and confusion with the Middle English ferþeren, which (that?) meant “to assist, promote, [or] advance.” It further (farther won’t do here) states “There is no historical basis for the notion that farther is of physical distance and further of degree or quality.” In fact, with the exception of the meaning of additional that the dictionary provides for the word further, the words can be legitimately used interchangeably. Further has a somewhat more pedantic usage while farther is probably more common, at least in my experience.

So I hope that clears up any confusion on those two pairs. Next week we'll get to the motherlode of my confusion: which vs. that. I bet you're excited and can't wait. In the mean time, enjoy some old episodes of "I Love Lucy." It will come in handy for my hilarious close next week.