'autochthony' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'autochthon', where 'autos' meant 'self' and 'chthōn' meant 'earth' or 'soil'.

'autochthon' (Greek) passed into Latin and Late Latin scholarly usage (e.g. 'autochthōn' / 'autochthones') and was adopted into English in learned contexts as 'autochthony' via classical Latin and modern scholarly usage.

Initially it meant 'sprung from the earth' or 'born of the soil'; over time it evolved to mean 'the condition of being native or indigenous to a place' and, by extension, the ideological claim that a group is original to a territory.