aboriginaladj.n.
/ˌabəˈrɪdʒᵻnl/, U.S. /ˌæbəˈrɪdʒənl/, /ˌæbəˈrɪdʒn(ə)l/ A. adj.
1.
a. First or earliest as recorded by history; present from the beginning; primitive. Of peoples, plants, and animals: inhabiting or existing in a land from earliest times; strictly native, indigenous.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > type of inhabitant generally > [adjective] > original inhabitant
originary1594
autochthonous1804
aboriginal1822
autochthonic1828
autochthonal1870
1650 E. Williams Virgo Triumphans 24 Let us compare our most incomparable Virginia, where the Mulberry and the Worme are aboriginall to Italy, where they are onely adventitious.
1663 E. Waterhouse Fortescutus Illustratus xxv. 448 The Nobless..excuse themselves and their estates from all forrage and charge..and this the Nobless do by a kinde of Aboriginal right, as the instance of their freedom.
1667 E. Waterhouse Short Narr. Fire London 70 Mr. Spencer, the trusty and Aboriginal Librarier.
1716 M. Davies Diss. Physick 40 in Athenæ Britannicæ III The same Proto-Ideal Purpose of drawing out the Primogenial Physick of the Grecians to its first aboriginal Offspring.
a1790 R. Robinson Eccl. Res. (1792) x. 284 Here, the aboriginal native Celts found shelter, and to this hour subsist in Biscay.
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion vi. 277 A heaving surface..mantled o'er with aboriginal turf. View more context for this quotation
1822 Burke's Speech Impeachm. W. Hastings, 15 Feb. 1788 in Wks. (new ed.) XIII. 64 This aboriginal people of India.
1832 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. II. xiii. 214 The very site of the aboriginal forests.
1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 31 The wild habits and early condition of the aboriginal Iberians.
1875 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. (ed. 2) I. i. 2 The English are not aboriginal, that is, they are not identical with the race that occupied their home at the dawn of history.
1881 W. W. Hunter Imperial Gazetteer India III. 188 The aboriginal race of Kulís is rapidly rising in the scale of civilization.
1907 G. B. Shaw John Bull's Other Island p. x He [sc. Swift] was not an aboriginal Celt.
1980 E. P. Thompson Making of Eng. Working Class (ed. 3) xi. 412 The Wesleyans had inherited from their founder a peculiarly strong conviction as to the aboriginal sinfulness of the child.
1992 Conservation Biol. 6 12/3 These forests constitute the major timber sources for the country, but they bear little resemblance to the truly aboriginal forests of the past.
b. Also with capital initial. Inhabiting or occupying a country before the arrival of European colonists and those whom they introduced. Cf. aborigine n. 1b.Originally used to describe the native inhabitants of North America, and later applied to the indigenous peoples of other regions colonized by Europeans. Although the term is no longer commonly applied to the indigenous ethnic groups of the United States or New Zealand, it continues to be used in official and general contexts in Canada in relation to the native peoples of that country. For the use of the term in Australian contexts, see sense A. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native people > [adjective]
inbornc1000
theodiscc1000
i-cundeOE
landisha1300
kindc1325
denizen1483
kindly born1483
native1488
naturally born1523
naturala1533
home-bred?1560
natural1574
home-born1577
homeling1577
natural-born1583
land-born1589
self-bred1590
self-born1597
indigene1598
land-breda1599
vernaculous1606
kindly1609
inbred1625
terrigenist1631
native-born1645
indigenous1646
indigenary1651
indigenital1656
aboriginal1698
own-born1699
indigenal1725
homegrown1737
terrigenous1769
indigenate1775
1698 S. Sewall Let. 3 Mar. in Let.-bk. (1886) I. 192 The aboriginal Natives of America.
1739 J. Callender Hist. Disc. Civil & Relig. Affairs Colony Rhode-Island 89 The Aboriginal Natives, by Famine, Sword and Pestilence, [were] destroyed, and wasted away by Millions throughout all America!
1785 T. Jefferson Let. 7 June in Papers (1953) VIII. 185 As to the Aboriginal man of America, I know of no respectable evidence on which the opinion of his inferiority of genius has been founded.
1828 New Monthly Mag. 22 166 Governor Janssens had in preparation some more efficient measures for..securing the rights and liberties of the aboriginal tribes of the Cape colony.
1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 158/2 The mixed race [in Mexico] is mostly composed of the descendants of the Europeans and the aboriginal tribes.
1860 Church Missionary Intelligencer Oct. 217/1 Can the white man colonize without the destruction of the inferior aboriginal race?
1894 C. F. Lummis Man who married Moon 2 Of all the aboriginal peoples that remain in North America, none is richer in folk-lore than the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico.
1902 G. S. Whitmore Last Maori War p. vi Everything should be done to save the native people from the fate which in all history had befallen aboriginal races brought into contact with civilization.
1946 F. W. Kenswil Children of Silence vi. 13 Aboriginal Indians are a very religious set of people.
1971 J. S. Weiner Man's Nat. Hist. v. 221 ‘Micro-evolution’ comparable to that found in the Xavante villages obtains in other South American aboriginal tribes.
1992 R. M. Bone Geogr. Canad. North i. iii. 40 When Columbus ‘discovered’ America, Canada had been occupied by Aboriginal peoples for thousands of years.
2.
a. Of or belonging to the earliest known inhabitants of a land; of or belonging to an indigenous people.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > type of inhabitant generally > [adjective] > original inhabitant > relating to
aboriginal1693
aborigine1895
1693 R. Huntingdon in J. Ray Coll. Curious Trav. II. 153 If you have a fancy, upon the sight of 'em, to sift out the Hieroglyphick character with which they are engraven, perhaps you'l find it to be the aboriginal Egyptian Letter.
1775 J. Adair Hist. Amer. Indians 52 I shall now shew a farther parity, between the Hebrew language, and the Aboriginal American dialects.
1799 E. King Munimenta Antiqua I. v. 258 In the old Erse language, as explained by a Scotish Highlander, who was skilled in that aboriginal language, Crom signifies bent, or crooked.
1805 Edinb. Rev. Jan. 294 If the Sanscrit..be not the aboriginal language of India.
1851 D. Wilson Archæol. & Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. i. ii. 38 The aboriginal fleets of ancient Caledonia.
1864 Social Sci. Rev. 1 299 By putting fire-arms into their hands the English doubled the aboriginal power.
1874 A. H. Sayce Princ. Compar. Philol. v. 175 The chances are that a modern Hindoo will be altogether, or in great part, of aboriginal blood, unless he be a Brahmin.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 813/2 The efflorescence of aboriginal pottery is to be found in the Pueblo region of south-western United States.
1971 J. H. Kelley in R. Moisés et al. Tall Candle Introd. p. xii The common modern house type utilizing carrizo cane mats for walls is..an aboriginal trait.
2003 Dirty Linen June 55/1 Playing everything from traditional Cajun..and hypnotic Hungarian to..French Canadian songs, zyde-calypso, and, of course, aboriginal New Mexican music.
b. Frequently with initial capital. Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia or their languages. Cf. aborigine n. 1c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > New Zealand and Australian indigenous peoples > Australian Aboriginal peoples > [adjective]
aboriginal1825
aborigine1835
Australioid1864
Abo1911
1820 New S. Wales Pocket Almanack 74 Institution for the Children of the aboriginal Natives of this Colony.]
1825 L. E. Threlkeld (title) Aboriginal Mission, New South Wales.
1841 Geelong Advertiser 7 Aug. 1/4 Strayed..two working bullocks... Whoever will bring the same to the Aboriginal Establishment near Killembeet..will receive the above reward.
1868 J. K. Tucker Aborigines & Chinese Question 26 Another mission was established..on the aboriginal reserve at Lake Condale.
1896 E. E. Morris Austral Eng. p. xiv In several books statements will be found that..a word is not Aboriginal, when it really has an aboriginal source but in a different part of the Continent.
1929 K. S. Prichard Coonardoo ii. 25 All aboriginal babies are honey-coloured when they are born.
1944 F. Clune Red Heart 16 The region is an Aboriginal Reserve, closed to white men.
1969 Northern Territory News (Darwin) 11 July 9/7 Many Aboriginal groups in full tribal regalia will compete for the coveted shield tonight.
1980 Age (Melbourne) 1 May 1/1 The chief teachers are Aboriginal ‘aunts’—herbal specialists..whose traditional role was as backstop to the male nunkari.
2001 C. Freeland But is it Art? iii. 72 In Kuranda, there are small art fairs with booths where many Aboriginal artists sell their wares.
B. n.
1.
a. An original or earliest inhabitant of a land, esp. as distinguished from a later settler. Also occasionally in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > type of inhabitant generally > [noun] > original inhabitant
aborigine?1529
autochthon1579
aborigen1587
native1603
originals1703
aboriginal1749
primitive1779
aboriginary1869
tangata whenua1949
1749 W. Douglass Summary I. iii. i. 157 Notwithstanding of the Unpoliteness and Want of Fire-Arms amongst the American Aboriginals.
1767 T. Hutchinson Hist. Province Massachusets-Bay, 1691–1750 iii. 269 A good friend to the aboriginals of every tribe.
1845 C. Darwin Jrnl. (ed. 2) xvii. 385 It may be questioned whether it [sc. a tortoise] is in any other place an aboriginal.
1860 G. P. Marsh Lect. Eng. Lang. xxiv. 539 The mischief it [sc. poetry] has done to the language by employing aliens as substitutes for worthier aboriginals.
1883 Overland Monthly May 483 The people seem to be Indians mostly, and they are probably the modified aboriginals.
1917 M. E. Durham in Near East 2 Mar. 42/1 The Albanian has never forgotten that he is the aboriginal and the Slav a comparative newcomer.
1942 Official Yearbk. of Union 1941 (Union Office of Census & Statistics) 984 Natives—pure blooded aboriginals of the Bantu race.
2004 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 22 Dec. a19/3 The country needs not more dawdling treaty negotiations with aboriginals, but a domestic Marshall Plan to develop their skills in the modern economy.
b. spec. Now usually with initial capital. An Aboriginal inhabitant of Australia. Cf. aborigine n. 1c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > New Zealand and Australian indigenous peoples > Australian Aboriginal peoples > [noun]
New Hollander1697
Australian1815
blackfellow1827
aboriginal1828
Jacky Jacky1845
nigger1845
Australoid1869
murri1884
Abo1908
binghi1933
boong1941
1828 Hobart Town Courier 19 Apr. 1/2 Nothing herein contained shall authorize..any Settler..to make use of force (except for necessary self-defence) against any Aboriginal.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xxi. 525 The thoughtless aboriginal,..is delighted at the approach of the white man.
1873 A. Trollope Austral. & N.Z. i. 60 It will be as well to call the race by the name officially given to it. The government styles them ‘aboriginals’..the word ‘native’ is almost universally applied to white colonists born in Australia.
1911 E. M. Clowes On Wallaby xi. 299 In all matters connected with hunting the aboriginal, in the hard school of necessity, has brought his powers of observation to a fine point.
1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger xvi. 180 Four aboriginals have a death sentence for shoving a spear through a policeman.
1969 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 13 July 52/1 An Aboriginal is not a white man and he does not want to be.
1991 New Scientist 27 Apr. 23/2 The area has high levels of natural radioactivity... It is known to the Aboriginals as ‘sickness country’.
2001 P. Ball Bright Earth i. 16 First, they said, comes a distinction between light and dark, or white and black. Australian Aboriginals and speakers of the Dugerm Dani tongue of New Guinea have only two colour terms with essentially these meanings.
2. Usually with capital initial. Any of numerous Australian Aboriginal languages; (with the) the Australian Aboriginal translation of a specified word or phrase.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Australian Aboriginal > [noun]
aboriginal1845
yabber1855
aborigine1879
1845 J. O. Balfour Sketch of New S. Wales 8 You may see a gin (the aboriginal for a married woman).
1969 J. Hibberd Dimboola (1974) 26 Speaks Italian, Spanish, Cretin, Greek and Aboriginal.
1974 A. Buzo Coralie Lansdowne says No 18 The address is 18 Jacka Avenue. Jacka. The Aboriginal for bourgeois.
1990 Meridian Spring 34/2 Wungara (‘wild duck’ in Aboriginal) was built..by one of Perth's master boatbuilders.
2003 Courier Mail (Queensland) (Nexis) 1 Nov. 18 Bulimba is Aboriginal for place of the magpie lark or peewee.
Compounds
aboriginal rights n. (now often with capital initial) the human, civil, and legal rights possessed by indigenous peoples, esp. those rights relating to the preservation, protection, or recognition of traditional lands, cultures, and ways of life.In Australia, used with specific reference to the entitlement of Aboriginal people to equality in law with non-Aboriginal Australians, and to ownership of Aboriginal lands.
ΚΠ
1826 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 281 To suppose that such a people had a right to this whole continent..is in our view to misapprehend the true nature of aboriginal rights.
1950 Washington Post 7 Aug. 10/5 The Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts of Alaska have a moral and perhaps legal claim through aboriginal rights to certain lands in the Territory.
2015 Northern Territory News (Darwin) 27 Jan. 7/6 Melbourne's [Australia Day] parade was disrupted by hundreds of people marching in support of Aboriginal rights and criticising yesterday as ‘Invasion Day’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1650