foreigne

Foreigne is an archaic English spelling of an adjective related to foreign, used in medieval and early modern texts to describe people, customs, or goods from beyond a particular realm. The form appears in various spellings throughout the Middle English and Early Modern English periods, reflecting broader orthographic practices of the time rather than a distinct semantic shift. In its sense, foreigne could denote anything from distant origin or unfamiliar outside influence to something characteristic of foreign lands.

Etymology and usage context: Foreigne traces to the same Latin and Old French roots as the modern word foreign, with related forms such as estrange and forain appearing in contemporary physiology of the era. The final -e was a common orthographic feature in English manuscripts of the period, used to indicate pronunciation and grammatical form rather than to create a separate word.

Modern status: Foreigne is now obsolete in standard English and is encountered mainly in historical texts or editions that reproduce period language. In present-day usage, foreign serves as the adjective, and foreigner as the noun.

Historical significance: The appearance of foreigne reflects the broader evolution of English terminology for otherness, outsiders, and cross-cultural contact. Its usage helps illustrate how early English speakers categorized people and goods from outside their immediate jurisdiction and how spelling varied before standardization.

See also: foreign, foreigner, estrange, stranger.