foreign English · revision 2594

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=la forīs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈfɒr.ɪn/, US /ˈfɔːr.ɪn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|forein]], also ferren and foreyne,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) [[bor|fro|forain|t=strange, foreign; outer, external]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) from [[la-lat|forānus|t=on the outside]],^(AHD 2000)^(Klein 1966) also Medieval Latin foraneus,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la|forīs|t=outside, out of doors]] and forās,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) related to [[m|la|forēs|t=door]],^(Etymonline)^(COED 2004)^(Hoad 1986) from [[ine-pro|*dʰwer-|alt=*dhwer-|t=door, doorway]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) The English spelling with ''-g-'' is from the 17th century, perhaps by association with [[reign]] and [[sovereign]].^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of places, “outside the boundaries of a country”, and of persons, “born in another country”: about 1300.^(Etymonline) Barnhart dates ferren to about 1250.^(Barnhart 1988) The OED's first sense, “out of doors, outside”, is from 1297, as in ''a chamber foreign'', a privy.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ “Belonging to others, not one's own” is from about 1374,^(OED 1989) and “alien to one's nature, not connected with, extraneous” from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) “Pertaining to another country”, as in ''foreign policy'', is from the 1610s.^(Etymonline) ''Foreign'' replaced native [[fremd]],^(Etymonline) and Old English had ælþeodig for “foreign”, from æl- “foreign” and þēod “people”.^(Etymonline) In English dialects ''foreign'' was widely used of anything from another parish or county, not only another country.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1250 – ''ferren''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1297 – out of doors.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1300 – outside a country; born abroad.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1374 – belonging to others.^(OED 1989)

+ * late 14th century – alien, extraneous.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1610s – relating to other countries.^(Etymonline)

+ * 17th century – the spelling with ''-g-''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Located in or coming from a country other than one's own.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Relating to dealings with other nations: ''foreign policy''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # Strange or [[alien]]; not one's own.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # Not belonging; [[extraneous]]: ''a foreign body in the eye''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[foreignness]]

+ * [[foreignly]]

+ * [[foreign-born]]

+ * [[foreigner]]

+ * [[foreignism]]

+ * [[nonforeign]]

+ * [[unforeign]]

+ * [[foreign affairs]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[forest]]

+ * [[forum]]

+ * [[door]]

+ * [[forfeit]]

+ * [[foreclose]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Cornwall ''foreign lard'' was bought lard as opposed to lard from one's own pigs, and in Pembrokeshire ''foreign'' was used as an adverb, “abroad”.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}