From Latin 'fortis' (strong), from PIE *bʰerǵʰ- (high) — kin to 'fort,' 'comfort,' 'effort,' and Germanic 'borough.'
Strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement; coercion or compulsion; to make someone do something against their will.
From Old French 'force' (strength, power, violence), from Late Latin 'fortia' (strength), the neuter plural of Latin 'fortis' (strong, brave), used as a collective noun meaning 'acts of strength.' The PIE root is *bʰerǵʰ- meaning 'high, elevated.' The semantic evolution from 'high' to 'strong' occurred in the Latin branch, with 'fortis' developing from a physical descriptor to a moral one (brave,
In physics, 'force' has a precise technical meaning (mass times acceleration, F = ma), but the word's etymology has nothing to do with movement — it comes from a root meaning 'high.' The path from 'elevated' to 'strong' to 'any cause of change in motion' traverses the entire distance from a hillside to Newton's Second Law.