alienate (v.)
1510s, "transfer to the ownership of another;" 1540s, "make estranged" (in feelings or affections), from Latin alienatus, past participle of alienare "to make another's, part with; estrange,
set at variance," from alienus "
of or belonging to another person or place," from alius "another, other,
different" (from PIE root
*al- (1) "
beyond"). Related:
Alienated; alienating.
In Middle English the verb was simply alien, from Old French aliener and directly from Latin alienare. It is attested from mid-14c. in theology, "
estrange" (
from God, etc.; in past participle aliened); late 14c. as "break away (from), desert;" c. 1400 in law, "transfer or surrender one's title to property or rights."
alien (adj.)
c.
1300, "
strange, foreign," from Old French alien "strange, foreign;" as a noun, "an alien, stranger, foreigner," from Latin alienus "of or
belonging to another,
not one's own, foreign, strange," also, as a noun, "a stranger, foreigner," adjective from alius (adv.) "another, other, different" (from PIE root
*al- (1) "beyond").
The meaning "residing in a country not of one's birth" is from mid-15c. The sense of "
wholly different in nature" is from 1670s. The meaning "
not of this Earth" is recorded by 1920. An
alien priory (mid 15c.)
is one owing obedience to a religious jurisdiction in a foreign country.
alienation (n.)
late 14c., alienacioun, "action of estranging, disownment;" early 15c., "transfer of one's title to property or rights," from Old French alienacion and directly from Latin alienationem (nominative alienatio) "a transfer, surrender, separation," noun of action from past-participle stem of alienare "to make another's, part with; estrange, set at variance." This is from alienus "of or belonging to another person or place," from alius "another, other, different" (from PIE root
*al- (1) "beyond").
Middle English alienation also meant "
deprivation of mental faculties, insanity" (early 15c.), from Latin alienare in a secondary sense "
deprive of reason, drive mad;" hence
alienist. Phrase
alienation of affection as a U.S. legal term in divorce cases for "falling in love with someone else" dates to 1861.