aboriginal

Etymology

It was formed in English from the Latin phrase ab orīgine (“from the beginning”) with the suffix -al,^[2] or, as Etymonline, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English put it, from the earlier English plural aborigines and the suffix.^[3][4][5] The plural is Latin aborīginēs (“original inhabitants”), the name of the first inhabitants of Latium and the ancestors of the Romans;^[3][2] it may be a tribal name that was associated with, or made to conform to, ab orīgine.^[3][6] That phrase is made of ab (“from”) and the ablative of orīgō (“beginning, source”), from the stem of orior (“to rise”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

First or earliest as recorded by history; present from the beginning: 1650, in Edward Williams's Virgo Triumphans.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1660s, and Merriam-Webster gives 1650.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was used especially of the inhabitants of lands colonized by Europeans: from 1698 it described peoples living in a country before the colonists arrived,^[2][3] while from 1693 it meant belonging to the earliest known inhabitants of a land.^[2] The Australian sense, often with a capital, is found from 1820 according to Etymonline, or 1825 in the OED.^[3][2] The noun, an original inhabitant, dates from 1749,^[2][7] or 1760 according to Etymonline,^[3] and was used of Aboriginal Australians from 1828 and for their languages from 1845.^[2]

Timeline

• 1650 – first or earliest; present from the beginning.^[2][7]
• 1693 – belonging to the earliest inhabitants of a land.^[2]
• 1698 – inhabiting a country before European colonization.^[2]
• 1749 – noun, an original inhabitant.^[2][7]
• 1820 – of the Indigenous peoples of Australia, in Etymonline's dating.^[3]
• 1825 – of the Indigenous peoples of Australia.^[2]
• 1828 – noun, an Aboriginal Australian.^[2]
• 1845 – noun, an Australian Aboriginal language.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Existing in a place from the earliest known times; indigenous, native: the island's aboriginal forests.
2. Of or relating to the Indigenous peoples of a land, as distinguished from later colonists or settlers.
3. Aboriginal: of or relating to the Indigenous peoples of Australia or their languages.

Noun

1. An original inhabitant of a land; an aborigine.
2. Aboriginal: an Aboriginal Australian.

Word family

• aboriginally
• aboriginality

Related words

• aborigine
• origin
• original
• indigenous
• autochthonous

Usage notes

In Australia, Aboriginal does not cover all the country's Indigenous peoples, and the fuller phrase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander is often used; the Australian government recommends First Australian or First Nations Australian.^[6] For Aboriginal Australians, both Aborigines and Aboriginals are standard plurals.^[8] Etymonline notes that aboriginal was long considered the correct English singular, aborigine being a back-formation from the plural first recorded in 1858.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press