The obviousness of some terms is misleading. A contemporary is conducting a superficial morphemic analysis and is ready to declare that he thoroughly understood the whole meaning laid down by his ancestors. And make a mistake! An example of a secretly interpreted word is “nonresident”. How did it form and what does it mean? Why in pre-revolutionary Russia this concept can be found in official documents as an independent?
Etymological Surveys
Let's parse the word into its component parts. Before us is a classic adjective, which consists of two words - "city" and "other".
This is an indication of a person or thing who is in another locality or arrived from there. Clear and simple, nothing extraordinary. Although for Cossacks for almost three centuries, the meaning was completely different!
History reference
In those areas of Russia that were under the control of Cossack troops before the revolution, the definition of “nonresident” was strictly regulated. Moreover, it was a noun that was applied to all immigrants, as well as locals, when a person did not belong to the Cossack estate, because of which he did not bear conscription to the same extent, and at the same time settled on the same land. Among these citizens were:
artisans;
merchants;
tenants
workers.
Some people came for temporary work if there was a crop failure in their native lands. Others were refugees after any disasters related to hostilities, the seizure and ruin of territories. Someone got accustomed, acquired property, bought a house and paid the planted fee annually. As a result, a division into two groups appeared: indigenous nonresident and alien nonresident.
The first were those whose ancestors lived on Cossack land for two or more generations. Thanks to the Constitution of the Don and Kuban, these people had maximum civil liberties and the special right to naturalize as a Cossack. They were invited to change their estate and improve their social status in exchange for fulfilling expanded military duties. Although such a right was of little use.
Modern history
Nobody will use historical terms in everyday life. Unless you decide to join the culture of your grandfathers-Cossacks, carefully study the textbooks, enter into a scientific discourse on the right to inherit traditions and land. In other cases, nonresident is an ordinary characteristic for most people of the XXI century.
Now, due to the opportunity to get an education on the other side of the Earth, the chance to travel around the world and work in different parts of the planet, almost everyone can be called nonresident.