The Collaborative International Dictionary
Autochthon \Au*toch"thon\, n.; pl. E. Authochthons, L. Autochthones. [L., fr. Gr. ?, pl. ?, from the land itself; a'yto`s self + ? earth, land.]
One who is supposed to rise or spring from the ground or the soil he inhabits; one of the original inhabitants or aborigines; a native; -- commonly in the plural. This title was assumed by the ancient Greeks, particularly the Athenians.
That which is original to a particular country, or which had there its origin.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1640s, "one sprung from the soil he inhabits" (plural autochthones), from Greek autokhthon "aborigines, natives," literally "sprung from the land itself," used of the Athenians and others who claimed descent from the Pelasgians, from auto- "self" (see auto-) + khthon "land, earth, soil" (see chthonic).
Wiktionary
n. 1 The earliest inhabitant of an area, an aborigine. 2 (context geology English) An autochthonous rock formation.
Wikipedia
Autochthon, autochthons or autochthonous may refer to:
In Ancient Greece, the concept of autochthones (from Ancient Greek autos "self," and khthon "soil"; i.e. "people sprung from earth itself") means the original inhabitants of a country as opposed to settlers, and those of their descendants who kept themselves free from an admixture of foreign peoples.
In mythology, autochthones are those mortals who have sprung from the soil, rocks and trees. They are rooted and belong to the land eternally.
An autochthon is not the same as the offspring of Gaia, called gegenes (earth-born), although later the terms have been conflated.
An autochthon in structural geology is a large block or mass of rock which is in the place of its original formation relative to its basement or foundation rock. It can be described as rooted to its basement rock as opposed to an allochthonous block or nappe which has been relocated from its site of formation.
thumb|right|upright=1.6|Schematic overview of a thrust system. The hanging wall block is (when it has reasonable proportions) called a nappe which overlays the autochthonous (unrelocated) material. A hole in the nappe which exposes the underlying autochthonous material is called a window. A klippe is a solitary outcrop of the nappe in the middle of autochthonous material. While an autochthon may have experienced some minor shifting, an allochthonous block will have moved at least a few kilometres. If an overlying allochthon has an opening or hole which exposes the underlying autochthonous material, the hole is called a window (or Fenster).
The etymology of the term is from Greek: 'autos' means self, and 'chthon' means earth.
Usage examples of "autochthon".
The autochthones were linguistic adepts, and between their natural abilities and modern psychography had learned English in a matter of days.
Each shell split in the air into hundreds of bomblets which in turn burst on the next thing they touched--rock, leaf, or the face of a Molt sighting down the barrel of his power gun The sea of miniature blasts created a mist of glass-fiber shrapnel devouring life in all its forms above the microscopic--but without significantly changing the piezoelectric al constant of the rock on which the autochthons homed.
The autochthons could-given time to approach the position instead of tele porting directly from some distant location--home on very small crystals indeed.
Hawker said as he ported his weapon again, making no apology for aiming it toward a tele porting autochthon, even one in Bournes lap.
Hawker must have made a mistake that would give a clear shot to the tele porting autochthon.
The autochthon had already disappeared, tele porting away with a smile which was probably an accident of physiognomy.
They would do fine, handling detection chores for the entire company during this lull while the autochthones regrouped and licked their wounds.
That General Radescu had used his access to really study the way the Oltenian State fought the autochthones was a measure of the man, rather than of his duties.
But here, in this strange matrix of imponderables, with the brutal bellowing of shuffling autochthones filling the air just beyond the fogged windows, he was paralyzed with fear.
Planet of origin was listed as Jean-Baptiste, wherever that might be: doubtless a name bestowed by humans because the autochthons had too many different ones of their own.
To the third pair of twins he gave the name Mneseus to the elder, and Autochthon to the one who followed him.
Sanchoniathon, Ouranos was the son of Autochthon, and, according to Plato, Autochthon was one of the ten kings of Atlantis.
A band of twenty or so autochthones was scattered across the field of view, turning over stones and sometimes probing holes with simple tools.
The autochthones invariably kill everyone who lands on their planet, unless he escapes immediately.
Veils of dirty smoke swathed the fascine, but the autochthones protected behind it continued to advance the cylinder unhindered.