foreign: outsider, from the roman foraneus, someone from outside your empire/nation.
Firengi phonetically sounds a lot like that. Portugese traders and their latin speaking priests were trading there quite early (as were the egyptians, romans etc. for ages. they likely referred to themselves as foraneus.
Fringe: another word used above. 14c old French (
) Franki Feranki - ferengi - fringy - frenchy (etc. ad nauseum)- word from the latin for the fibrous border or edge of a woven cloth, used here as on the fringes, or beyond the fringes, ie. foreign, firengi. Japanese: Gaijin = literally an outer person, foreigner - Portugese were for a long time the only 'outsiders' allowed in Japan, again mainly Priests who spoke latin in churches to their converts.
Loaner Words get around a lot it seems. getting local vowel drift, and mis-speilingks as it wends it's way thru it's travels.
