Etymologically
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foreign

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈfɒr.ɪn/, US /ˈfɔːr.ɪn/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English forein, also ferren and foreyne,[2][3] borrowed from Old French forain (“strange, foreign; outer, external”),[2][3][4] from Late Latin forānus (“on the outside”),[4][5] also Medieval Latin foraneus,[2][3] from Latin forīs (“outside, out of doors”) and forās,[2][6][7] related to forēs (“door”),[2][8][7] from Proto-Indo-European *dhwer- (“door, doorway”).[2][4] The English spelling with -g- is from the 17th century, perhaps by association with reign and sovereign.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of places, “outside the boundaries of a country”, and of persons, “born in another country”: about 1300.[2] Barnhart dates ferren to about 1250.[3] The OED's first sense, “out of doors, outside”, is from 1297, as in a chamber foreign, a privy.[9]

Semantic evolution

“Belonging to others, not one's own” is from about 1374,[9] and “alien to one's nature, not connected with, extraneous” from the late 14th century.[2][9] “Pertaining to another country”, as in foreign policy, is from the 1610s.[2] Foreign replaced native fremd,[2] and Old English had ælþeodig for “foreign”, from æl- “foreign” and þēod “people”.[2] In English dialects foreign was widely used of anything from another parish or county, not only another country.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – ferren.[3]
  • 1297 – out of doors.[9]
  • c. 1300 – outside a country; born abroad.[2]
  • c. 1374 – belonging to others.[9]
  • late 14th century – alien, extraneous.[2]
  • 1610s – relating to other countries.[2]
  • 17th century – the spelling with -g-.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Located in or coming from a country other than one's own.
  2. Relating to dealings with other nations: foreign policy.
  3. Strange or alien; not one's own.
  4. Not belonging; extraneous: a foreign body in the eye.

Word family

  • foreignness
  • foreignly
  • foreign-born
  • foreigner
  • foreignism
  • nonforeign
  • unforeign
  • foreign affairs
  • forest
  • forum
  • door
  • forfeit
  • foreclose

Usage notes

In Cornwall foreign lard was bought lard as opposed to lard from one's own pigs, and in Pembrokeshire foreign was used as an adverb, “abroad”.[10]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)