autochthonous
autochthonous: adjective meaning indigenous. the correct spelling of this word, brought victory to a breathless fourteen-year-old from indiana today. david tidmarsh won the 77th annual scripps howard national spelling bee held here in dc and broadcast on disney's espn network. he beat out 264 other contestants to win us$17,000 (some have reported 12,000) in cash, a $1,000 savings bond and an engraved trophy.the louisville courier-journal started the spelling bee in 1925 with nine students. e.w. scripps co's scripps howard news service took over sponsorship of the contest in 1941. the champion speller in the 1930s won about $1,000.
last year's winner, also a boy, was sai gunturi, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from dallas, spellıng correctly the word pococurante, or not concerned, indifferent.
contestants had to complete a twenty-five-word written test in round one which included onomatopoeia or the naming of an action or thing by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it, and triskaidekaphobia or fear of the number thirteen.
a bit of trivia: there were no spelling bees during the wwII years of 1943, 1944 and 1945, and co-champions were declared in 1950, 1957 and 1962. scripps howard said the term «spelling bee» is derived from a community social gathering where people joined together in a single activity to help a person or family.
oh, in greek mythology, autochthonous are those said to be children of the soil, which means they have belonged to the land eternally. «son of the soil» is not the same as «son of earth» (gaia). the children of the soil have neither father nor mother, and therefore they just arise from the ground like a plant does.
sources bloomberg and the greek mythology link.
