Origin

Origin derived from classical Latin - coming into being, beginning, that from which something is derived, source; to rise (see ORIENT n. Compare Middle French, French origine, noun (1450-1500 in anatomy, 1470 in sense ‘birth of an individual or a family’, 1679 in mathematics) and adjective (1520). Compare Italian origine (1304-8), Spanish origen (a1400).With the trisyllabic French forms cited above compare earlier disyllabic forms Old French, Middle French orine (1138), Anglo-Norman orine, origne.]

• A.1. noun a. The fact of being born from a particular ancestor or race; parentage, ancestry, extraction, pedigree. Also in pl.

b. More generally: the act or fact of beginning, or of springing from something; beginning of existence with reference to source or cause; rise or first manifestation.

• 2. a. That from which anything originates, or is derived; source of being or existence; starting point. Now freq. in pl.

b. Anat. and Zool. A place from which a structure, esp. a muscle or nerve, arises, or at which it is attached; spec. the more fixed of the two points of attachment of a muscle (cf. INSERTION n. 3).

c. Math. A fixed point from which measurement or motion commences; spec. (a) the point of intersection of the axes in Cartesian coordinates; (b) the pole in polar coordinates.

• B. adj. = Original adj. 2a. Obs. rare.