etymology - "Emigrant" vs. "immigrant"


While studying one word substitution I came across these two words, what I understood till now is like this:



  • Emigrant: One who leaves his own country to reside to another.

  • Immigrant: A person who comes to one country from another to settle.


For example: "A Swedish woman decides to emigrate to America. To herself, and to the country of Sweden, the woman is an emigrant to America. To her new American neighbors, the woman is an immigrant from Sweden, implying she has been somewhere else, and now is here, wherever here happens to be. So she has been an emigrant, in coming to America, and now she is a Swedish immigrant." (Quoting from here.)


Now what will be the one word for:



A person residing in a country of which he is not a citizen



To my understanding it seems immigrant should be the correct word, but the answer given in my module is emigrant. Please help me understand whether I am wrong or not.



Answer



This is about geographical perspective. If you are an American speaking about someone from France who now lives in America, that person is an immigrant (from France). If you are an American speaking about an American who now lives in France, that person is an emigrant (from America).


Now, from the standpoint of the person you describe, it depends on how she sees herself, but the context always has to do with the geographical perspective. She can describe herself as an immigrant to America, or as an emigrant from Sweden. All immigrants are emigrants, and all emigrants are immigrants (that is, unless they remain forever at sea or fail to reach their destination for some other reason). It is the point of reference you wish to stress that should determine the word choice here.


Morton S. Freeman, in A Treasury For Word Lovers, puts it this way:



When a person leaves his country to take up permanent residence in another country, he becomes an emigrant and an immigrant. He is an emigrant upon leaving his homeland and an immigrant upon arriving at his destination.



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