Literary notes about autochthonous (AI summary)
In literature, autochthonous is employed as a powerful descriptor to denote an inherent, indigenous quality—often linking people, traditions, or natural phenomena directly to the soil and innate character of a place. Writers invoke the term to assert that certain cultures, landscapes, or even mythological beings are not imported or externally derived but spring directly from their native environment, as when the earth itself is portrayed as “the autochthonous red soil of the creation of all things” ([1]) or when ancient peoples claim origins “sprung from the soil” ([2], [3]). At times the term broadens to encompass academic and symbolic usage, describing local developments in art, science, or even pathology, such as with “autochthonous” infections or indigenous species ([4], [5]). In all these contexts, autochthonous underscores an organic continuity and a pride in deep, local roots.
- Appearance is, however, deceptive, for the earth Walt smacks of is the autochthonous red soil of the creation of all things.
— from A Life of Walt Whitman by Henry Bryan Binns - Most ancient nations fancied themselves autochthonous, and took a pride in believing that they sprang from the soil on which they lived.
— from Human Origins by S. (Samuel) Laing - Thus Ancient Egypt believed itself to be autochthonous, and traced the origin of arts and sciences to native gods.
— from Human Origins by S. (Samuel) Laing - This theory of autochthonous infection derives but little support from clinical observation.
— from A System of Practical Medicine. By American Authors. Vol. 3 Diseases of the Respiratory, Circulatory, and Hæmatopoietic Systems - Typhus, it need hardly be said, is an indigenous or autochthonous infection; the conditions of its engendering are never very far off.
— from A History of Epidemics in Britain, Volume 2 (of 2) From the Extinction of Plague to the Present Time by Charles Creighton
