alienigenus

Forms

aliēnigenus (feminine aliēnigena, neuter aliēnigenum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin aliēnus (“belonging to others”) + -genus (“born”).^[2][3] aliēnus is derived from alius (“other”),^[4] which goes back to Proto-Italic *al-jo- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-io- (“another”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius uses it first, of things made of matter of a different kind: food would seem to consist of alien things.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Valerius Maximus it means “foreign”, of examples, studies, cities and a woman of foreign blood, as opposed to native ones,^[2][5] and Seneca speaks of foreign rites.^[2][5] Columella uses it of plants grown from seed brought from elsewhere and of chicks hatched from another bird's eggs.^[2] An inscription forbids anyone to bring a stranger's body into a tomb.^[2][5]

Late writers use it of foreign peoples and lands;^[5] Ammianus speaks of joining one's own forces with foreign ones.^[5]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of matter of a different kind.^[2][3]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca speaks of foreign rites.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of plants and of chicks.^[2][3]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of foreign forces.^[5][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Foreign, from or of another country; imported, exotic.^[2][1]
2. Of different or unfamiliar origin, alien.^[2][1]
3. (of things) Made of alien matter, different in kind.^[2]

Related words

• aliēnigena
• aliēnus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften