From Old English 'beforan' (by + in front), PIE *per- (forward) — encoding the universal metaphor where 'in front of' becomes 'earlier in time.'
During the time preceding a particular event or time; in front of; in the presence of; rather than.
From Old English 'beforan,' a compound of 'be-' (by, near) and 'foran' (before, in front), from 'fore' (before, in front of), from Proto-Germanic *fura, from PIE *per- (forward, through). The word is thus built from two spatial particles — 'by' + 'in front' — that together created a preposition meaning 'in the presence of' and then 'earlier in time.' The spatial-to-temporal metaphor is one
In many languages, the future is conceptualized as being 'behind' the speaker (unseen) while the past is 'before' (visible). English 'before' meaning 'earlier' reflects the older spatial metaphor where the past is in front of you because you can see it, while the future is behind you because it is unknown. Aymara, a South American language, makes this explicit