Post #4028867
2026-07-22 17:38 UTC
The word ‘foreign’ is etymologically related to ‘door’.
‘Foreign’ comes from Latin ‘forānus’ (outsider), a derivative of ‘forīs’ (outside). It got its silent g because people believed it had something to do with ‘reign’ – which it doesn’t. English ‘door’ is a distant cousin of ‘forīs’.
Within Germanic, it’s related to German ‘Tür’ and Swedish ‘dörr’, but words do stem from slightly different Proto-Germanic words. My infographic tells you more.
Replies (1)
-
@yvanspijk@toot.community 2026-07-22 21:31
2/ Ah, yes, and I come from that 35-year old bloke from Kazachstan who has the same hair colour as me. And he's got fingers and a nose too!