What Does ancestor Mean
Ancestor comes from the verb ancestor , which refers to happening previously . According to the first meaning mentioned in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ), ancestor is an adjective that qualifies a time period that precedes the last one that elapsed .
The most common use of the concept, however, is given as a noun. An ancestor, in this sense, is an upline relative of an individual or a group of people. An ancestor is an ancestor .
For example: “My ancestors came to this country from Ukraine” , “The young singer has Peruvian ancestors” , “It is not logical for them to criticize the deputy because one of his ancestors was a Nazi: what is his fault with what his ancestors did when He wasn't even born? " .
In general, the idea of ancestor is used when there is a certain distance . This means that a man hardly uses the notion to refer to his parents or grandparents: instead, he can speak of ancestors to name his great-grandparents or his great- great- grandparents , to cite two examples.
The concept of ancestor is also usually linked to a certain respect on the part of current people towards their ancestors, although this depends as much on the culture as on each particular case. In Japan, for example, respect for the elderly is imprinted on the culture itself, which is why speaking of ancestors is often done with a certain degree of admiration.
In other countries, where self-love is not common but people look outward , the weakness of their roots inevitably leads to a poor opinion about their own history , in which their ancestors were protagonists. For example, when a person complains about the economic and social situation of his country saying "We have always done everything wrong here," he shows a disappointment for both his fellow men and his ancestors.
The notion of ancestor can also be used with reference to a more or less broad social group. There are species that qualify as human ancestors ( Homo sapiens ). In these cases, the ancestors can be numerous and related to a very large set of people (in fact, to humanity in general).
In this context, it is interesting to note that while life on Earth is believed to have appeared approximately three and a half million years ago, primates only emerged about seven million years ago, and the homo species only two million. Despite having been part of this precious planet for such a short time , humans have managed to dominate it , even if not by force and gradually leading to its destruction. How did you do it? Blinded by his pride.
The human being has the curious habit of praising himself: we are superior to the rest of the species, the most evolved, the only ones capable of creating and thinking, all because we say so; We do not ask the opinion of another species, but we proclaim ourselves the most important and valuable beings on the planet . Our ancestors are our shame, although a necessary one to have reached this fictitious peak where our dangerous vanity has placed us.
In the numerous research texts about the misunderstood human evolution , the ancestors of our species are always shown as primitive, basic beings, light years away from our current intellect; however, they lived and allowed to live, on a green planet, friendly to the sun and free from pollution.
It should be noted that plants also have ancestors: species that changed their genome with evolution or through human intervention with science .