For centuries, in various parts of the world, it has been reported throughout recorded history that people have been experiencing the sightings of UFOs – unidentified flying object- which raised questions about the existence of other creatures in the universe. These creatures were given the name of aliens. However, there is more to know about the term “alien”, about its origin as well as what this word implicates.
The word “alien” refers to creatures arriving from another world, living extraterrestrial life that may occur outside Earth. It has never been confirmed that these creatures actually exist, still it is a major subject of interest. The term “alien” is derived from the Latin alienus; meaning a slave; it stems from an extinct Indo-European language called Oscan, then later on, in c.1300 the word came to mean “strange or foreign”.
The idea of “aliens” goes back to philosophers in ancient Greece , and ever since then, there were many debates among Western philosophers and scientists, questioning the existence of these creatures and whether they have ever visited Earth .1947 marks the year during which the first UFO sighting occurred , Kenneth Arnold; a businessman; claimed to see a group of nine high-speed objects shaped as crescents in Washington while flying his small plane, he described their extremely fast movements as “saucers skipping on water” , hence the term flying saucer appeared .
However, the word alien is not only restricted to extraterrestrial creatures; it can also mean a person belonging to another place or thing. In informal usage we can say “I feel like an alien” (out of this world), to express your feeling of “not belonging” in a certain group or feeling alienated. In English law, an “alien” is a person born outside of the monarch’s dominions and who did not owe allegiance to the monarch; these people were not permitted to own land and were subjects to different taxes. We also say “undocumented alien” to describe any person who is liable to deportation because of his illegal presence in a nation and is violating the immigration laws.
Understanding the origins of a word and learning its meaning on more profound levels enables us to improve our lateral thinking. A term does not only have one singular meaning you can always find more. With the word “alien” we understood that it has more to it other than the association with fictional creatures.
Nour Jabrane
Semester 3, Department of English Studies
Chouaib Doukkali University – El Jadida