We can trace the English language's origins back to the invasion of Britain by Germanic tribes in the 5th century A.D. At the time, the people of Britain spoke a Celtic language, which slowly diminished with the influx of Germanic speakers. Our English today is the result of many years of language transformation, and many of our words still have Germanic roots. One of those words is forbid, which comes from the common Germanic compound of "for," meaning against, and "beodan," meaning to command.
Perhaps one of the most common uses for forbid is its verb form. When forbid is used as a verb, it means to command someone against an action or to hinder or prevent someone from completing an action by command. The person doing the forbidding is known as the forbidder. This use first came about before the 12th century, and examples can include such phrases as "I forbid you to go."
The adjective form of forbid is not commonly used today. Indeed, it is considered archaic and means that someone is accursed. The first known use of forbid as an adjective is recorded in 1606, and examples of this use can include such phrases as "He shall live a man forbid," from Shakespeare's "Macbeth."
The past tense of forbid once had two possible forms: forbade or forbad. Until the past 50 years or so, these forms had almost equal occurrence; however, in more recent years the use of forbade has increased in frequency. Forbid can also be used with the preposition "to" and less frequently with "from." The use of "from" with forbid is most often followed by a gerund such as "The law forbade them from using drugs."