LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS-L Archives

From: Mickey Dean <>
Subject: [LDR] Re: Meaning of Words
Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2002 11:55:24 -0400

Jo Anna,

In looking through an old dictionary (circa 1870) that I have that has
Archaic English (Olde or High English) terms and a basic meaning of them,
and which would have been the language used during the time period specified
in your references, the differences between the words "naturalization " and
"denization" would be as follows:

Naturalization: this would be the process (the same as today) whereby a
government or specific governing body would confer the same rights to an
alien (in this case, French) citizen, as those held by a natural-born
citizen, which would be non-revocable.

Denization: this is the process whereby a government or governing body at
that time would have conferred specific rights, or rights of passage to a
foreign national (again French) to visit and/or stay in a specific area or
region. Denization would have severely limited the visitors' rights within
the area/region where they were visiting/staying and most denizations
allowed for the revocation of his "denizen" rights should he fail to abide
by them. In cases then, where a "denizen" failed to abide by his papers, he
was most likely put in gaol (jail), until the governing body could decide
whether or not to expel the denizen for his/her actions, or cause them face
a tribunal or governing court to decide their fate. It would basically be
the same today as our term for the issuance of a visa, albeit with some
subtle differences.

It is also intersting to note that both words have been borrowed by the
English language from the French language, where the words find their roots.

I hope this helps to clear this up for you.

Regards,

Mickey Dean

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• [LDR] Re: Meaning of Words by Mickey Dean <>