Etymologically
Log in

foraneus

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word foraneus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
11th century, a Hanseatic charter
Ultimate origin
Latin forās
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin foras
Latin foraneus

Forms

forāneus (feminine forānea, neuter forāneum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin forās (“out of doors, outside”), formed on the model of extrāneus (“external, foreign”).[1][2] Etymonline derives it from forīs (“outside”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The MLW's first example is a charter dated, with a query, to the middle or end of the 11th century: a foreign merchant who enters the city may lodge wherever he likes.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

The word meant external or foreign,[1][4] and also subject to another lordship.[1] In church usage a canon who did not reside was foraneus,[5][6] and an officialis foraneus was a church judge who sat outside the capital of the diocese.[5] As a noun it meant a foreigner in a city,[5][2] and Stelten gives a feminine noun meaning a deanery.[4]

Through Old French forain it gave English foreign, recorded about 1300.[3]

Timeline

  • 11th century – A Hanseatic charter uses it of foreign merchants.[1][2]
  • 1194 – It is used as a noun for a foreigner in a city.[2][5]
  • 1230 – A visitation of St Peter's in Leuven uses it of a canon who does not reside.[6]
  • c. 1300 – English foreign is recorded, from Old French.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Medieval Latin) External, foreign, from outside.[1][4]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Under another lordship.[1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Of a canon: non-resident.[5][6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) In officialis foraneus: a church judge sitting outside the diocesan capital.[5]

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A foreigner in a city.[5][2]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin, feminine) A deanery.[4]

Word family

  • cōnforāneus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
Cite this entry

“Foraneus.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/foraneus. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·