Aborigines
The
Aborigines were a mythical people of central
Italy, connected in legendary history with
Aeneas,
Latinus, and
Evander. They were supposed to have descended from their mountain home near Reate (an ancient Sabine town) upon
Latium, whence they expelled the Siceli and subsequently settled down as Latini under a King
Latinus. The most generally accepted etymology of the name (
ab origine), according to which they were the original inhabitants (the Greek
autochthones) of the country, is inconsistent with the fact that the oldest authorities (
e.g. Cato in his
Origines) regarded them as Hellenic immigrants, not as a native Italian people. Other explanations suggested are
arborigines, "tree-born," and
aberrigines, "nomads." Historical and ethnographical discussions have led to no result; the most that can be said is that, if not a general term, "aborigines" may be the name of an Italian stock, about whom the ancients knew no more than ourselves.
- (from an old encyclopedia)
See also:
aborigine (which is the generic term for the first people who inhabit a region)