English
foreign
Foreign comes from Old French forain, from Vulgar Latin *forānus ‘outsider’, possibly from Latin forās ‘outside’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰwer-‘door, gate’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*forā‘door’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*fora‘door’reconstructed
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEforās‘outside’uncertain
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*forānus‘outsider’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400forain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500foreyn
- Englishearliest quotation 1613foreign
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰwer-‘door, gate’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*forā‘door’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*fora‘door’reconstructed
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEforās‘outside’uncertain
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*forānus‘outsider’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400forain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500foreyn
- Englishearliest quotation 1613foreign
Earliest quotation: 1613, William Shakespeare, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight: “Kept him a foreign man still; which so grieved…”
The story
The silent -g- added perhaps by analogy with reign (compare also sovereign which was similarly altered).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- ‘door’
Today it means
adj Located outside a country or place, especially one's own.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- / foreign