Forayer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who actively seeks out resources or opportunities by traveling into unfamiliar areas for exploration or raids
2. An individual who embarks on excursions into new environments to obtain valuable goods or knowledge
3. A person who ventures into territories to obtain resources or carry out incursions

Etymology: "Forayer" is a plain formation: the noun "foray," meaning a raid or a sudden incursion into enemy territory, with the agent suffix "-er" attached to name the person who makes such a raid. The suffix does the work of turning an action into a doer, so a forayer is simply someone who goes on forays. The base word has a more surprising past. "Foray" came into English from Old French "forrer," meaning to forage, and the earlier sense of that root was closer to feeding than fighting. Over time the notion of gathering supplies from the countryside hardened into raiding it, which is why a forayer can be understood both as someone seeking provisions and as someone attacking a neighbour to take them.

Synonyms: raider, invader, attacker, assailant, plunderer