auto-, aut-

(Greek: self, same, spontaneous; directed from within)

autochthon (s) (noun), autochthons (pl)
1. The earliest known inhabitants of a place; an aborigine: An autochthon is the earliest known dweller in any country..
2. Someone who is supposed to have risen, or to have sprung, from the ground or the soil he is currently inhabiting; a "son of the soil": One autochthon in Greek mythology was King Erichthonius, a legendary ruler of ancient Athens.
3. That which is original to a particular country, or which had its origin there: The Sequoia sempervirens, the coastal redwood tree, is an autochthon, native to California and Southern Oregon, and is also the tallest tree in the world!
4. Original inhabitants or products: The first humans, or autochthons, lived in California 130,000 years ago.
5. In ecology, an indigenous plant or animal: The California poppy is an autochthon and is native to California, U.S.A.
6. In geology, a geological formation formed in the region where it is found: Granite is a rock that is an autochthon in California.
autochthonal (adjective) (not comparable)
Referring to something native to an area where it is found: The autochthonal faunae of Australia include the kangaroos.
autochthonic (adjective) (not comparable)
A reference to anything that originates where it is found; aboriginal; indigenous: California poppies are considered to be autochthonic and are native to the western United States.
autochthonism (s) (noun) (no pl)
1. The condition of something being found where it originated: Autochthonism describes the circumstance of a people, their folk tales, or even rocks that are native to a certain region.
2. In biology, the state of something originating or formed in the place where it was found: Autochthonism can be a predicament of a blood clot which developed in the spot where it was located.
autochthonous (adjective) (not comparable)
1. Concerning something that originated in the place where it was found: The autochthonous fossil preserved in th exact position when the organism lived was found by the students during the biology expedition.
2. A reference to a disease originating in the part of the body where it was found: The autochthonous tumor was located and examined in Janes's left breast, the exact spot where it had developed.

The doctor told Mary that her heart beat was autochthonous, thus inside her body, and not stimulated by a machine outside her body.
3. In psychology, of or pertaining to ideas that arise independently of the individual's own train of thought and seem instead to have some alien or external agency as their source: Some people suffer from autochthonous disorders such as schizophrenia or from some kind of obsession.

There's an enormous difference between Africa and the Caribbean due to the fact that the Caribbean has no autochthonous population.

All of its people are immigrants, either from the top of the society, the youngest sons, and so forth; or blacks who were brought there through the slave trade. The only autochthonous population, the Caribs, has completely disappeared.

—Quote by Michel Leiris as seen in
"A Conversaton with Michel Leiris" by Sally Price and Jean Jamin in the
Current Antropology, Volume 29, Number 1, February 1988; page 157 by
The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research,
University of Chicago Press.
autochthonous coal
Coal or peat which is derived from decayed plant material and found at the site of its origin.
autochthonous sediment
A deposit of mineral or organic material formed in place by decomposition.
autochthonous stream
A stream which is flowing in its original channel or in the channel in which it originated.
autochthony (s) (noun), autochthones (pl)
1. The state of nativeness or of natural occurrence; endemism: The status of autochthony or indigenousnes of Virginia's birthplace lies in California because she was born there!

Autochthony can also be described as the nativeness by virtue, or of something originating or occurring naturally (as in a particular place).
2. In biol.ogy, originating or formed in the place where found: The plight of autochthony can also be exemplified by a blood clot which occurred in the area where it was diagnosed.

autocidal
Controlling or eradicating populations of noxious insects by reducing their capacity to produce viable or fertile offspring; as by the introduction of sterile males.
autocide
1. Another form of suicide; that is, “self-killing” or “killing one’s self”.
2. Someone has suggested that it means “suicide by crashing one’s automobile”; however, the “auto” in autocide refers to “self” not the auto- in automobile.
3. Despite the above information, some dictionaries define this term as, "suicide by crashing the vehicle one is driving."
autocide-defenestration (s) (noun), autocide-defenestrations (pl)
Suicide by jumping out of a window.
autocinesia, autocinesis
Voluntary self-movement.
autoclasia
1. Tissue destruction to an autoimmune reaction.
2. A breaking up or rupturing from intrinsic or internal causes.
3. Progressive immunologically induced tissue destruction.
autoclasis
Destruction of a part due to conditions within a part of the body.

Inter-related cross references, directly or indirectly, involving word units dealing with "equal, identical, same, similar": emul-; equ-, equi-; homeo-; homo-; iso-; pari-; peer; rhomb-; syn-; tauto-.