It's why we see Chief Justice Marshall state in THE VENUS, 12 U.S. (8 Cranch) 253, 289 (1814):
"Vattel, who, though not very full to this point, is more explicit and more satisfactory on it than any other whose work has fallen into my hands, says "The citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives or indigenes are those born in the country of parents who are citizens."
Here, we see the great Chief Justice Marshall (who would have studied Vattel's legal treatise "Law of Nations" at the country's first law school...the College of William and Mary...introduced to the school's curriculum in 1779 by Thomas Jefferson) directly quoting, by name, Vattel's work specifically.
It's why we see Chief Justice Waite state
"At common-law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar [edit: this nomenclature they were familiar with is directly mirrored to the definition found in Law of Nations...which the framers read and referenced during the Constitutional Convention], it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives, or natural-born citizens,"in Minor v. Happersett (1875)
Vattel's original French, From Chapter XIX, 212 regarding Citizens and Naturals (Citizens):
"Les naturels, ou indigenes, sont ceux qui sont nes dans le pays, de parens citoyens"
Translated to English:
"the natural, or indigenous, are those born in the country, parents who are citizens
The terms were interchangeable then.
It appears that, in the years after the WKA ruling (in 1898), the term "native" has taken on a new meaning when it comes to citizenship.
Of course, WKA was found to be a "citizen" (and not a "natural born Citizen") due to the fact that his parents were perminantly domociled in the country...and conducting business here.
It interesting to note, that Associate Justice Horace Gray (who delivered the majority opinion) was appointed to the bench by non other than the original usurper...Chestur Arthur...who was born in this country...but to a foreign national father and who burned his papers prior to his death, undoubtably to cover his tracks as being born a British subject (inherited from his foreign national father).
The royal dictionary, french and english, and english and french
Author: A. Boyer
Publisher: T. Osborne, 1764
Original from Ghent University
From: http://books.google.com/books?id=k7c_AAAAcAAJ
A dictionary of the English language. Abstracted from the folio ed., by the author. To which is prefixed, an English grammar. To this ed. are added, a history of the English language
Author: Samuel Johnson
Edition: 3
Published: 1768
Original from: Oxford University
Digitized: Aug 10, 2006
From: http://books.google.com/books?id=bXsCAAAAQAAJ
The new spelling dictionary
Author: John Entick
Published: 1780
Original from: University of Lausanne
Digitized: Feb 27, 2008
From: http://books.google.com/books?id=xZUPAAAAQAAJ
More recently:
Baldwin’s Century Edition of Bouvier’s Law Dictionary. Published by The Banks Law Publishing Company in 1926
Hat tip to BP1 for the great "$2 dollar" find.