Editing Pygmy peoples (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Main|Pygmy (Greek mythology)}}
[[File:DR Congo pygmy family.jpg|thumb|A family from a [[Bayaka|Ba Aka]] pygmy village]]
The term ''pygmy'', as used to refer to diminutive people, comes via [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|pygmaeus}} from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] πυγμαῖος ''pygmaîos'', derived from πυγμή ''pygmḗ'', meaning "short [[cubit#Ancient Greece|cubit]]", or a measure of length corresponding to the distance from the elbow to the [[metacarpophalangeal joint|first knuckle]] of the middle finger, meant to express pygmies' diminutive stature.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Pygmy |volume=22 |pages=677–679 |first=Robert Murray |last=Leslie |short=1}}</ref>

In [[Greek mythology]] and [[classical antiquity|classical]] [[natural history]], the word denoted a [[Pygmy (Greek mythology)|tribe of diminutive people]] first described by the ancient Greek poet [[Homer]], and reputed to live to the south of modern-day Ethiopia or in India.<ref>{{Citation |title=pygmy |dictionary=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]] |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pygmy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195134/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pygmy |archive-date=2013-10-29}}</ref> For example, [[Aristotle]] described them thus in his ''[[History of Animals]]'' (while discussing [[crane (bird)|crane]]s that migrate south of Egypt): "The story is not fabulous, but there is in reality a race of dwarfish men, and the horses are little in proportion, and the men live in caves underground."<ref>Aristotle, ''History of Animals'' 8.12, 892<sup>a</sup>12. Translated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson.</ref>

Many African pygmies prefer to be identified by their ethnicity, such as the [[Aka people|Aka]] (Mbenga), [[Baka people (Cameroon and Gabon)|Baka]], [[Mbuti]], and [[Twa]].<ref name=focus>{{Cite web |title=Forest peoples in the central African rain forest: focus on the pygmies |editor-last=Dembner |editor-first=S. A. |website=FAO Corporate Document Repository |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] Forestry Department |url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/w1033e/w1033e03.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025131122/http://www.fao.org/docrep/w1033e/w1033e03.htm |archive-date=2016-10-25 }}</ref> The term ''Bayaka'', the plural form of the Aka/Yaka, is sometimes used in the [[Central African Republic]] to refer to all local pygmies. Likewise, the [[Kongo language|Kongo]] word ''Bambenga'' is used in [[Congo Basin|Congo]]. In other parts of Africa, they are called ''Wochua'' or ''Achua''.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Wochua|volume=28 |page=767}}</ref> In French-speaking Africa, they are sometimes referred to adjectivally as '''autochthon'''<ref name=Guardian0719>{{cite web |last=Beaumont |first=Peter |others=Photos by Kate Holt |title=Gorillas, charcoal and the fight for survival in Congo's rainforest |via=theguardian.org |series=Defenders: Saving Congo's Parks |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=22 July 2019 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jul/22/gorillas-charcoal-fight-survival-congo-rainforest |access-date=1 September 2019}}</ref> (''autochtone''), meaning "native" or "indigenous".

[[File:African Pigmies CNE-v1-p58-B.jpg|thumb|African pygmies and a European visitor, {{Circa|1921}}|alt=Two men with a woman holding a baby]]