英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

foreign (adj.)[foreign 词源字典]: c. 1300, ferren, foran, foreyne, in reference to places, "outside the boundaries of a country;" of persons, "born in another country," from Old French forain "strange, foreign; outer, external, outdoor; remote, out-of-the-way" (12c.), from Medieval Latin foraneus "on the outside, exterior," from Latin foris (adv.) "outside," literally "out of doors," related to foris "a door," from PIE *dhwor-ans-, from root *dhwer- "door, doorway" (see door).

English spelling altered 17c., perhaps by influence of reign, sovereign. Sense of "alien to one's nature, not connected with, extraneous" attested late 14c. Meaning "pertaining to another country" (as in foreign policy) is from 1610s. Replaced native fremd. Related: Foreignness.[foreign etymology, foreign origin, 英语词源]
foreigner (n.): early 15c., foreyner; see foreign + -er (1).
In ordinary use chiefly applied to those who speak a foreign language as their native tongue; thus in England the term is not commonly understood to include Americans. [OED]
In American English from 1620s through mid-19c., however, it was used of a person from a different colony or state. Earlier as a noun in English was simple foreign (early 14c.), probably from Old French, which used the adjective as a noun meaning "foreigner;" also "outskirts; the outside world; latrine, privy." Spelling furriner, representing pronunciation, is from 1832, originally in Irish dialect pieces but by 1840s picked up by American dialect writers (Thomas Chandler Haliburton).
foreknowledge (n.): "prescience," 1530s, from fore- + knowledge. Earlier in this sense was foreknowing (late 14c.), from foreknow "have previous knowledge of, know beforehand." Old English had forewitan, Middle English forwiten "to foreknow."
foreleg (n.): late 15c., from fore- + leg (n.).
forelock (n.): "lock of hair growing above the forehead," Old English forelocca "forelock;" see fore- + lock (n.2).
"Opportunity has hair in front, behind she is bald; if you seize her by the forelock, you may hold her; but, if she once escapes, not Jupiter himself can catch her again." ["Dictionary of Latin Quotations, Proverbs, Maxims and Mottos," H.T. Riley, London, 1866]
foreman (n.): early 13c., "a leader," from fore- + man (n.). From 1530s as "principal juror;" 1570s in the sense of "principal workman." Similar formation in Dutch voorman, German Vormann, Danish formand. Also in 17c., a slang word for "penis." Fem. form forewoman is from 1709, originally of a jury; forelady is from 1867 in reference to juries, 1888 of shops, American English.
foremast (n.): also fore-mast, the first actual mast of a vessel, or the mast fore of the main-mast, 1580s, from fore- + mast (n.1).
foremost (adj.): Middle English formest, from Old English fyrmest, formest "earliest, first, most prominent," from Proto-Germanic *furmista-/*frumista- (related to Old English fruma "beginning"), from PIE *pre-mo-, suffixed (superlative) form of root *per- (1) "forward, through; before; first" (see per) + additional superlative suffix -est. For the -m-, see -most, and compare similarly formed Old Frisian formest, Gothic frumists. Altered on the assumption that it is a compound of fore and most. The same compound without the superlative -m- is first. Also in Old English as an adverb, "first of all, at first, in the first place."
forename (n.): 1530s, from fore- + name (n.). The equivalent of Latin praenomen. Old English had forenama. Middle English had fore-named in the sense "mentioned before" (c. 1200).
forenoon (n.): "the morning," especially the latter part of it, when business is done, c. 1500, from fore- + noon.
forensic (adj.): "pertaining to or suitable for courts of law," 1650s, with -ic + stem of Latin forensis "of a forum, place of assembly," related to forum "public place" (see forum). Later used especially in sense of "pertaining to legal trials," as in forensic medicine (1845). Related: Forensical (1580s).
forepart (n.): also fore-part, c. 1400, from fore- + part (n).
foreplay (n.): by 1921 in sexual sense, from fore- + play (n.); Freud's Vorlust was translated earlier as fore-pleasure (Brill, 1910). A more direct translation from the German would be thwarted by the sense drift in English lust (n.). Earlier as a theatrical term:
In fact the poem which Mr. Brooks has translated is but the "prologue to the swelling theme," the fore-play to the actual drama of Faust. ["The Christian Examiner and Religious Miscellany," Jan.-May 1857]
forerunner (n.): c. 1300, from fore- + runner. Middle English literal rendition of Latin praecursor, used in reference to John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ. Old English had foreboda and forerynel.
foresee (v.): Old English foreseon "have a premonition," from fore- "before" + seon "to see, see ahead" (see see (v.)). Perhaps modeled on Latin providere. Related: Foresaw; foreseeing; foreseen. Similar formation in Dutch voorzien, German vorsehen.
foreseeable (adj.): 1804, from foresee + -able. Related: Foreseeably.
foreshadow (v.): "indicate beforehand," 1570s, figurative, from fore- + shadow (v.); the notion seems to be a shadow thrown before an advancing material object as an image of something suggestive of what is to come. Related: Foreshadowed; foreshadowing. As a noun from 1831. Old English had forescywa "shadow," forescywung "overshadowing."
foreshorten (v.): c. 1600, from fore- + shorten. Related: Foreshortened; foreshortening.
foresight (n.): also fore-sight, early 14c., "insight obtained beforehand;" also "prudence," from fore- + sight (n.). Perhaps modeled on Latin providentia. Compare German Vorsicht "attention, caution, cautiousness."
foreskin (n.): 1530s, from fore- + skin (n.). A loan-translation of Latin prepuce.