indigenous

Indigenous came to my attention today when I was catching up on the blog "It Really Is Upside Down," written by my good friend Vet, who lives in New Zealand. In the post in question, he cites a news article wherein the phrase "indigenous immigrants" is used, and rightly rails against this abomination.

Indigenous means, more or less, "native." What are "native immigrants?"

Another friend, in a comment on that blog, pointed out that this poor word has most likely fallen into the mire of politically correct jargon and can be taken to mean "brown."

Great horny toads. Are we not past such childish squirming? Dr. King must find a lot to laugh at from his heavenly vantage point. President Obama, too, from his.

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Indigenous
Indigenous In*dig"e*nous, a. [L. indigenus, indigena, fr. OL.
indu (fr. in in) + the root of L. gignere to beget, bear. See
In, and Gender.]
[1913 Webster]
1. Native; produced, growing, or living, naturally in a
country or climate; not exotic; not imported.
[1913 Webster]

Negroes were all transported from Africa and are not
indigenous or proper natives of America. --Sir T.
Browne.
[1913 Webster]

In America, cotton, being indigenous, is cheap.
--Lion Playas.
[1913 Webster]

2. Native; inherent; innate.
[1913 Webster]

Joy and hope are emotions indigenous to the human
mind. --I. Taylor.
[1913 Webster]

-- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

indigenous
adj : originating where it is found; "the autochthonal fauna of
Australia includes the kangaroo"; "autochthonous rocks
and people and folktales"; "endemic folkways"; "the
Ainu are indigenous to the northernmost islands of
Japan" [syn: autochthonal, autochthonic, autochthonous,
endemic]

-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

40 Moby Thesaurus words for "indigenous":
aboriginal, atavistic, autochthonous, bodily, born, coeval,
congenital, connatal, connate, connatural, constitutional, endemic,
genetic, hereditary, homebred, homegrown, in the blood, inborn,
inbred, incarnate, inherent, inherited, innate, instinctive,
instinctual, local, natal, native, native to, native-born, natural,
natural to, organic, original, physical, primal, primitive,
temperamental, unacquired, vernacular



-- From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0