Wednesday's Word -- Foreign

Door in Tunis, Tunisia

The Tunisian woman in the photo I blogged about this week has me thinking about the word "foreign."  I am, admittedly, a word nerd.  But even for the less nerdy among us, you have to admit this is interesting.

Foreign

The word "foreign" means "of, pertaining to, or derived from another country or nation; not native."  It means "strange or unfamiliar."  But here's the fascinating (to me) thing.  The word comes from the Indo-European Root *dhwer-, which means door or doorway.  "Foreign" literally means "out of doors."  Something that is foreign is outside your comfort zone, your home, your enclosure.  She is on one side of the door, and you are on the other.  It's just a matter of opening the door and letting the outside in.  

Other words that come from the same root include forest (originally used to capture the idea of a place forbidden or protected by a barrier) and foreclosure (literally, put out of doors).  Isn't that interesting?  Come on, it is.  

Makes me love the beautiful foreign doors I discovered on my travels all the more. 

Post script:  this post evidences the fact that my days and weeks blur, and I often lose track of the days of the week.  Thus a Wednesday's Word post on a Tuesday.  Truth be told, sometimes I even get morning and night confused, as I stand staring into my medicine cabinet, trying to figure out whether to use the night moisturizer or the daytime sunscreen.