Endling
Endling is an English-speaking word for a last survivor.
Uses in Discourse
A first mention is found in Nature , April 1996 edition, in the context of designating an individual who is the last known living species of its biological species. The National Museum of Australia used this term prominently in an exhibition curated in 2001 with the same meaning.
After these two verifiable early sources, there are other uses that are no longer limited to the pure scientific spectrum. In addition to uses in a work of Australian ornithology , The last flight of the Emu , the word is also in the same sense of a last of its kind in a science fiction - short stories ( The Endling used). In a partly figurative sense, to convey an “immeasurable feeling of regret and sadness”, Endling finds himself as the title of a symphony by the Australian composer Andrew Schultz .
“This piece flows from a feeling of immense regret and sorrow about all that has been lost from the face of the earth. Beautifully adapted plants, animals and societies that are no more and have been replaced by what? A world of ugliness, material obsession, perpetual and pointless change, and the hideous 'marketing' of everything from a symphony to a child's smile. And we are all utterly caught up in it, in the post-God world, where even repudiation is another category fit for commercial exploitation. There is only a stoic solitude - the resignation of the endling - and the pure core of human experience to sustain us. "
“The work springs from an immeasurable feeling of regret and sadness for all that has disappeared from the face of the earth. Beautifully adapted plants, animals and societies are no more, and what have they been replaced by? A world of ugliness, materialism, eternal and senseless change, as well as the hideous 'marketing' of everything and everyone, from a symphony to a childlike smile. And we are completely caught up in it, in the post-religious world, where denial is just another category of commercial exploitation. All that remains is stoic loneliness - the resignation of the Endling - and the pure core of human experience to give us strength. "
This type of use, with a political undertone, can also be proven in press reports, for example:
“There's a wonderfully Tolkien-esque word for the last animal of a species: an 'endling'. Their stories are always fascinating and usually don't reflect at all well on humans. ”
“There is a wonderful Tolkien- like word for the last animal of its kind: an endling. Her stories are always compelling and usually do not shed a good light on people. "
Examples of “endlings” in the 20th and 21st centuries
Already died (thus extinct species):
- Passenger pigeon Martha , died on September 1, 1914
- Tasmanian Wolf Benjamin , died on September 7, 1936
- Galápagos giant tortoise Lonesome George , died June 24, 2012
- Toughie tree frog , last specimen of the species Ecnomiohyla rabborum , died on September 26, 2016
- Oahu tree snail species Achatinella apexfulva George , died January 1, 2019
See also
- Last Chance to See ( English Last Chance to See , 1990) - Non-fiction book by British author Douglas Adams about some of the rarest and most endangered of extinction of the earth
supporting documents
- ↑ a b Dolly Jorgensen: Naming and claiming the last . April 13, 2013. Accessed February 1, 2016.
- ↑ Elaine Andrews: The last word . In: Nature . 381, No. 272, April 4, 1996. doi : 10.1038 / 381272d0 .
- ↑ Tangled Destinies . National Museum of Australia . 2002. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- ^ Mike Smith: The Endling exhibition, Tangled Destinies gallery, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 2001 . National Museum of Australia. 2001. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- ^ Libby Robin: The flight of the emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901-2001 . Melbourne University Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0522849875 , p. 260 (Retrieved February 19, 2016).
- ^ Andrew Schultz: Andrew Schultz Online - Endling for orchestra (2006) . Archived from the original on February 19, 2016. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ↑ Helen Lewis: New Statesman - Sense of an endling ( en ) New Statesman . June 27, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2016: “The death of Lonesome George raises questions of how many endlings we will see. There's a wonderfully Tolkien-esque [...] "
- ↑ George, the Last Hawaiian Land Snail, Passes Away ( en ) Retrieved January 7, 2019.
