Origin
Origin , noun
[French origine, Latin origo, -iginis, from oriri to rise, become visible; akin to Greek 'orny`nai to stir up, rouse, Sanskrit r, and perh. to English run.]
1.
The first existence or beginning of anything; the birth.
This mixed system of opinion and sentiment had its origin in the ancient chivalry.
2.
That from which anything primarily proceeds; the fountain; the spring; the cause; the occasion.
3.
(Anatomy) The point of attachment or end of a muscle which is fixed during contraction; -- in contradistinction to insertion.
I think he would have set out just as he did, with the origin of ideas -- the proper starting point of a grammarian, who is to treat of their signs.
Famous Greece,
That source of art and cultivated thought
Which they to Rome, and Romans hither, brought.
Collocations (1)
Origin of coordinate axes (Mathematics) , the point where the axes intersect. See Note under Ordinate.