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alienigena

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word alienigena

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ǵenh₁-)

Forms

aliēnigena (genitive aliēnigenae); first-declension one-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of aliēnus (“foreign”) and -gena, from the root of gignō (“to beget”); the TLL compares indigena “native”.[2][3][4][5] De Vaan traces the root of that verb to Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[5] who uses it very often in his speeches, for instance of a man from far away and foreign.[4]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it is a foreigner or stranger; as an adjective it means born in or belonging to another country, foreign, and is used of imported or exotic things.[2][4] The TLL notes that a second-declension adjective aliēnigenus is certain only from Valerius Maximus on.[3] Church Latin glosses it stranger, foreigner.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of foreigners.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A foreigner, stranger, alien.[2][4][1][7]

Adjective

  1. Born in another country; foreign, imported, exotic.[2][4][1]

Usage notes

Döderlein groups it with peregrīnus, advena and hospes as words for one who stays for a time in a country not his own, against exterus and externus, one living in a foreign country.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Alienigena.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/alienigena. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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