See also the locution outre la mer sub outre. The literal sense ‘beyond the sea’ prevails, but, in some cases, the context allows for a more specific designation as either nearby countries or the Near or Middle Eastern region. Only the latter sense seems to have persisted in post-medieval English, where, surprisingly, the term Outremer is not attested before the first half of the nineteenth century. The term oulter-le mer is found earlier in English, from the beginning of the seventeenth century, but only within a legal context.