Intellectual 'PROPERTY'

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Sun Jan 19 23:20:00 2003

> what it said was
> "Belonging to the people inhabiting a country
> originally or at the time of its discovery."

I have no idea what dictionary you're looking at, but dictionary.com
found several:

  Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment.
      American Heritage Dictionary of the English Lanugage, Fourth Edition

  Native; produced, growing, or living, naturally in a country or climate;
  not exotic; not imported.
      Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1998

  Originating where it is found
      WorldNet, 1997

The idea of "inhabiting a country originally or at the time of its
discovery" may be *one* definition of indigenous, but it's clearly
not definitive. One example givin in the Webster's entry does seem
to substantiate the definition you've given, even though the Webster's
definition is more broad.

Anyhow, not all definitions of "native" require the noun to be
indigenous. In fact, most don't. For instance, definition two in
the American Heritage Dictionary (ibid.):

    Being such by birth or origin: <i>A native Scot</i>.

I'm certainly an American by birth or origin, thus I'm clearly native
to America.
Received on Sun Jan 19 2003 - 23:20:00 GMT