Etymologically
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étranger

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /e.tʁɑ̃.ʒe/[1]

Forms

étranger (feminine étrangère, masculine plural étrangers, feminine plural étrangères)[1] Middle French estrangier, estranger, étranger from the 17th century.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is from French étrange + -ier, the suffix reduced to “-er” after a palatal consonant.[4][3][5][1] étrange continues Latin extrāneus (“external, foreign”); until the 17th century “étrange” itself meant “foreign”.[5] Littré and Wiktionary compare a Vulgar Latin “*extraneārius”.[6][1] The French word gave Italian straniero and Spanish extranjero.[5]

Compare Old Occitan estrangier, Catalan estranger and Portuguese estrangeiro.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Guillaume de Machaut's Prise d'Alexandrie (1369) it is a noun: one who is not from the country.[4][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Eustache Deschamps says of Paris tuit estrangier l'ament et ameront “all foreigners love it and will love it”, and in the 16th century it is common as an adjective (marchandises estrangeres, Amyot).[6] Besides “of another nation”, it came to mean outside a family or group, unfamiliar (La Bruyère, before 1696), and unrelated to a matter (étranger à).[2] Les Affaires étrangères are a country's foreign relations, and the Légion étrangère was created in 1831.[2] L'étranger, the foreign powers, is in Saint-Just (1794), and à l'étranger “abroad” is recorded by the Académie in 1835.[8][2]

Timeline

  • 1369 – A foreigner, Guillaume de Machaut.[4]
  • 16th century – As an adjective, Amyot.[6]
  • Before 1696 – “Unfamiliar”, La Bruyère.[2]
  • 1794 – L'étranger “foreign powers”, Saint-Just.[8]
  • 1831 – The Légion étrangère.[2]
  • 1835 – À l'étranger “abroad”.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. foreign: un pays étranger, une langue étrangère, les Affaires étrangères.[7][1]
  2. Strange, unfamiliar: un visage étranger, être étranger à quelqu'un.[2][1]
  3. Étranger à: unconnected with; unaware of: il est étranger à cette affaire.[2][6]
  4. Corps étranger: a foreign body.[1]

Noun

  1. A foreigner: les étrangers résidant en France.[1][7]
  2. A stranger, outsider.[1][6]
  3. L'étranger: foreign countries, à l'étranger, abroad.[9][8]

Usage notes

A separate verb étranger “to drive away, estrange”, Old French estrangier (about 1120), from Latin extrāneō, survives only in rare technical uses.[3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)