Etymologically
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alienus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [a.liˈeː.nʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [a.liˈɛː.nus][1]

Forms

aliēnus (feminine aliēna, neuter aliēnum, comparative aliēnior, superlative aliēnissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from alius “other” with the suffix -ēnus.[2][1][3] ⟨Alius⟩ goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“other, beyond”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is the Twelve Tables, of what belongs to another, and Köbler dates them about 450 BC.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It meant belonging to another, not one's own, as Cicero's men who tilled their own fields and did not covet others', of another's spouse, and aes aliēnum “debt”.[2][5] It meant unusual, unconnected, foreign, as in Plautus, unrelated by blood, and unfamiliar, strange.[2] Of persons and feelings it meant unfriendly, estranged, averse, as in Cicero, and of things unsuitable, incompatible, irrelevant, or harmful, of places and times unfavourable.[2] In Sallust it meant mentally disturbed.[2] As a noun it meant another's slave, a foreigner, an outsider.[2]

In Medieval Latin it meant deprived of something, and alien, a foreigner.[6][7] It survives in Spanish ajeno and Portuguese alheio.[1] English alien came through Old French about 1300.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it of another's property.[2][4]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of foreign and strange things.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of others' fields and of unfriendly feelings.[2][5][4]
  • c. 1300 – English alien is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Belonging to another, aes aliēnum, debt.[2]
  2. Unusual; unconnected.[2]
  3. Foreign; unrelated; strange.[2]
  4. Unfriendly, estranged; averse.[2]
  5. Unsuitable, incompatible; irrelevant.[2]
  6. Unfavourable, harmful.[2]
  7. Mentally disturbed.[2]

Noun

  1. A foreigner, alien; an outsider.[2]

Word family

  • aliēnigenus
  • aliēniloquium
  • alienitas
  • alienum

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 m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press