Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins: Aborigine

“aborigine [M19th] This is a shortening of the 16^th-century plural aborigines ‘original inhabitants,’ which in classical times referred to the early people of Italy and Greece. The word comes from the Latin phrase ab origine ‘from the beginning.’ Now both Aborigines and Aboriginals are standard plural forms when referring to Australian Aboriginal people, a specialized use that dates from the 1820s.”

Excerpted from: Creswell, Julia. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.