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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Recently, I began thinking about the phrase foreign object and got to wondering about the pedigree. Because of current usage (such as in medicine, chemistry, cooking, and raslin’), I supposed that the etymological ancestor of “foreign” would encompass some concept of “unwelcome” in connection with the concept of “alien”, but instead I learned all about the outdoors, and, surprisingly, about its relationship to blood spatter analysis. foreign … ME foreine or forene: OF-F – forain (f foraine): LL foranus, situated on the outside, esp beyond one’s own country: an -anus, adj from fores, foris, out of doors, hence abroad, from *fora, a door, -- akin to L foris (ooc fores), pl fores, doors, esp outer doors: IE r, *dhwer-, cf DOOR.
Akin to L foris is L forum, a market-place (out of doors), the centre of public business: adopted by E.
Forum has adj forensic, of the forum as the orig centre of law business; hence forensic, legal – esp in relation to speech.
The L adv foris, outside, has LL derivative forestis, usu in silua (ML silva) forestis, a wood outside, hence for the use of all, hence, by ellipsis, the ML n forestis, a wood, a forest, whence OF-MF forest (F foret), adopted by ME; but app the ML silva forestis or forestis silva was orig applied, in so far as OF is concerned, to Charlemagne’s royal forest, with forestis deriving – cf forensic – from forum in its special early ML sense “court of the King’s justice”.(B & W) Hence OF-F forestier, whence E forester, orig a forest warden; and MF-EF foresterie, whence E forestry.
-- Origins A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern EnglishAnd another source points to yet another branch of meaning on this particular tree: FOREIGN, out of doors, strange. (F. – L.) The insertion of the g is unmeaning. ME. foreine, foreyne, Chaucer, tr. of Boethius … OF, forain, “forraine, strange, alien;” … Folk-L., *foranus, for Late L., foraneus, applied to a canon who is not in residence, or to a traveling pedlar …
-- Etymological Dictionary of the English LanguageCharles Funk expanded on the unmeaning insertion of the g: … The original [French term for outsiders, when imported into England] forain became, at first, forein; then some one in the sixteenth century, probably an ignoramus thinking to exhibit great learning, stuck a meaningless g in the word, mistakenly influenced by “deign” and “reign,” perhaps.
-- Thereby Hangs a Tale(Go ahead, Charles. Tell us how you really feel …) Webster’s Unabridged, Second Edition (1970) listed five definitions for foreign: (1) situated outside one’s own country; (2) of, from, characteristic of or dealing with another country; (3) coming from or having to do with another person or thing not originating in the person or thing specified; (4) not organically connected, not naturally related; (5) excluded; held at a distance. In addition, Webster’s listed these related phrases: foreign affairs, foreign attachment, foreign bill of exchange, foreign born, foreign built, foreign correspondent, foreign exchange, foreign legion, foreign minister, foreign mission, and foreign office. Note that the concept of “unwelcome” did not seem to be encompassed in any of the definitions in 1970. By 1989, however, Webster’s definitions included: foreign … 11. alien in character; irrelevant or inappropriate …Ah ha! But still no listing for foreign object. Instead, I found discussions of the implications of “foreign object” in various online resources, such as this from a veterinary medicine site: A foreign object, just to be clear, is not an object that was manufactured in China or France. A foreign object is something contained within a part of the body in which it does not belong (usually the gastrointestinal tract), and can result in what is medically termed a "foreign body obstruction." Foreign material that is ingested but is not substantial enough to cause an obstruction (mulch, pebbles, or sand, for example) can lead to other problems, such as enteritis. A partial obstruction may be associated with intermittent periods of abnormal signs. However, complete gastrointestinal obstructions, on the other hand, lead to acute and often intense symptoms. -- http://www.vetcentric.com/magazine/magazineArticle.cfm?ARTICLEID=1350But my favorite discovery was from the world of professional wrestling – or, as it should be termed, raslin’. From the Professional Wrestling Online Museum: international object n. Foreign object, something now [sic; not] allowed in the ring. Derived from an order not to use the world "foreign" by the Turner Broadcasting Company. -- http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/pages/resources/glossary.htmlSo, so very soon after it’s recognition in a dictionary, the phrase foreign object is deemed politically incorrect.  And so ends my musing. Talk amongst yourselves.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Foreign object is a state-of-the-art term from medicine and as such is probably a special case.
So where's the connection to blood spatters?
TEd
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
You want blood and splattering? Go see "The Passion of The Christ" (linguistic, anatomical and historical errors an' all)!
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
So where's the connectionI think that was the wrasslin' part... 
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Go see "The Passion of The Christ"
The forein connection here being, of course, and as Pfranz pointed out, the speaking of Latin in an area where only Greek and Aramaic would be commonly spoken.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Terrifically interesting reading here, Sparteye!
I don't see a problem in making the direct connection to the third definition from MW you listed above:
"(3) coming from or having to do with another person or thing not originating in the person or thing (emphasis, mine) specified"
...and its application of 'foreign' as a modifier in the phrase 'foreign object.'
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
I knew she would meet her connection
Forum has adj forensic, of the forum as the orig centre of law business; hence forensic, legal – esp in relation to speech.
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