A. C. Hachem (not verified) says:

And as long as we're there, so to speak, let's get to grips with the word "native". As in "one's native country".

Our word "native" comes from the Latin words "nativus" - "nasci", "natus", meaning "to be born".

It's cognate with "nativity", "natal" (as in "pre-natal"), "national", "nation", etc.

The dictionary definition of "nativity" reads (in part): "belonging by birth: having a right by birth: born or originating in the place: being the place of birth or origin: belonging to the people originally or at the time of discovery inhabiting the country".

That's the adjective. The dictionary definition of the noun is: "one born in any place: one born and long dwelling in a place". Etc.

Oh dear.

But never mind. After all, as Alice in Wonderland put it, words can mean anything you want them to mean.

So why shouldn't some Brooklyn-born and raised Jew turn up in Hebron and say to the, er, natives, "get the hell out of here, this land is my land".

Chutzpahllah goes with the territory, so to speak.

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