aborigines

See also: Aborigines and aborígines

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin aborīginēs.[1]

Noun

aborigines

  1. plural of aborigine

Noun

aborigines pl (plural only)

  1. The original people of a location, originally Greek and Roman. [First attested in the mid 16th century.][2]
  2. Indigenous flora and fauna. [First attested in the late 17th century.][2]
  3. (history) The inhabitants of a location before colonization by the Europeans occurred. [First attested in the early 18th century.][2]

References
  1. Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 4
  2. Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “aborigines”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 6.

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

Unclear. The term is often suggested to derive from ab orīgine (“from the beginning”).[1][2][3] However, early Latin sources seem to treat it as the name of a specific people rather than a general term for original inhabitants of anywhere, so it may be the pre-Roman substrate name of a specific tribe which was altered to resemble ab orīgine due to folk etymology.[3] (Roman authors also suggested several other possible origins, like aberrō or ab + Ancient Greek ὄρος (óros, “mountain”), none of which is considered probable.[3])

Pronunciation

Noun

aborīginēs m pl (genitive aborīginum); third declension

  1. aborigines (original inhabitants)

Declension

Third-declension noun, plural only.

Case Plural
Nominative aborīginēs
Genitive aborīginum
Dative aborīginibus
Accusative aborīginēs
Ablative aborīginibus
Vocative aborīginēs

References
  • “aborigines”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • aborigines in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • “aborigines”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎
  • “aborigines”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “aborigines”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

Further reading
  1. Walde, Alois, Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1938) “aborigines”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), 3rd edition, volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 5
  2. Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 4
  3. “aborigine”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
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