Word Finder - origin

definition

The beginning of something.

definition

The source of a river, information, goods, etc.

synonyms

• source

definition

The point at which the axes of a coordinate system intersect.

synonyms

• zero vector

definition

The proximal end of attachment of a muscle to a bone that will not be moved by the action of that muscle.

definition

An arbitrary point on Earth's surface, chosen as the zero for a system of coordinates.

definition

(in the plural) Ancestry.

The dust is chiefly of local origin, but partly comes from the Sahara.

The story of his origin is very obscure.

The origin of the blotched as a special type is wholly unknown.

Even the name Levite itself is of uncertain origin.

Its origin is connected with the establishment of the salt-marshes.

Most Facebook users have people of other ethnicities and national origin as Facebook friends.

The origin of his family has been traced back as far as the end of the 14th century.

The soil is mainly of volcanic origin.

The origin of the name Aegean is uncertain.

The customs and dress of the people, who speak a patois of romaic origin, are interesting.

Moreover, the author goes on to remark that in adult birds trace of the origin of the sternum from five centres of ossification is always more or less indicated by sutures, and that, though these sutures had been generally regarded as ridges for the attachment of the sternal muscles, they indeed mark the extreme points of the five primary bony pieces of the sternum.

The origin of the word almucium is a philological mystery.

The library is said to owe its origin to Petrarch's donation of his books to the republic. Most of these have now disappeared.

It is usually affirmed that the state of Venice owes its origin to the barbarian invasions of north Italy; that it was founded by refugees from the mainland cities who sought asylum from the Huns in the impregnable shallows and mud banks of the lagoons; and that the year 452, the year when Attila sacked Aquileia, may be taken as the birth-year of Venice.

Otranto occupies the site of the ancient Hydrus or Hydruntum, a town of Greek origin.

Sometimes, as among the Australians, it is merely the ghosts of those who have died in the year which are thus driven out; from this custom must be distinguished another, which consists in dismissing the souls of the dead at the close of the year and sending them on their journey to the other world; this latter custom seems to have an entirely different origin and to be due to love and not fear of the dead.

As early as 1804, Humboldt expressed the opinion that petroleum was produced by distillation from deep-seated strata, and Karl Reichenbach in 1834, suggested that it was derived from the action of heat on the turpentine of pine-trees, whilst Brunet, in 1838, adumbrated a similar theory of origin on the ground of certain laboratory experiments.

Atlanta owes its origin to the development of pioneer railroads of Georgia.

Evidence is accumulating, though no completely satisfactory theory can yet be put forward, as to the northern origin of the dynastic Egyptians.

Partly owing to this, and partly to ancient feuds whose origin we cannot trace, the Athenian people was split up into three great factions known as the Plain (Pedieis) led by Lycurgus and Miltiades, both of noble families; the Shore (Parali) led by the Alcmaeonidae, represented at this time by Megacles, who was strong in his wealth and by his recent marriage with Agariste, daughter of Cleisthenes of Sicyon; the Hill or Upland (Diacreis, Diacrii) led by Peisistratus, who no doubt owed his influence among these hillmen partly to the possession of large estates at Marathon.

The probable origin of the story is the part traditionally taken in the foundation of Syracuse by the Iamidae of Olympia, who identified the spring Arethusa with their own river Alpheus, and the nymph with Artemis Alpheiaia, who was worshipped at Ortygia.

The origin of the term " Russia " has been much disputed.

Their origin is unknown, but they are officially mentioned as early as 1765.

Nestor, an old monkish chronicler Origin of Kiev, relates that in the middle of the 9th century of the the Slav and Finnish tribes inhabiting the forest region around Lake Ilmen, between Lake Ladoga and the upper waters of the Dnieper, paid tribute to military adventurers from the land of Ras, which is commonly supposed to have been a part of Sweden.

No one knew their origin or whence they came, or what religion they practised.

All through his reign he preferred to employ as officials men of humble origin, and habitually treated the boyars and great nobles very unceremoniously.

This gave Catherine a certain right to the throne at her husband's death, and her claims were supported by Peter's most influential coadjutors, especially by Prince Menshikov, an ambitious man of humble origin who had been raised by his patron to the highest offices of state.

Her reign (1730-40) was a regime of methodical German despotism on the lines laid down by her uncle, Peter the Great, and as she was naturally indolent and much addicted to frivolous amusements, the administration was directed by her favourite Biren (q.v.) and other men of German origin.

Kammin is of Wendish origin, and obtained municipal privileges in 1274.

At the present time scarcely anything is known about the origin of the few specimens of 18th-century English cut-glass which have been preserved in public collections.

Railways had their origin in the tramways (q.v.) or wagon-ways which at least as early as the middle of the 16th century were used in the mineral districts of England round Newcastle for the conveyance of coal from the pits to the river Tyne for shipment.

Most of the improvements in operation and in traffic management have had their origin in one of these two countries.

This is of American origin, and is there known as the " Mogul."

The sacrifice is in its origin a communion; god and worshippers have a bond of kinship between them; but it is liable to be interrupted or its strength diminished.

Marillier further argues that if, on the other hand, there was no bond between god and people but that of the common meal, it does not appear that the god is a totem god; there is no reason why the animal should have been a totem; and in any case this idea of sacrifice can hardly have been anything but a slow growth and consequently not the origin of the practice.

Whatever their origin, sacrifices tend to be interpreted as gifts to the god.

Luther at one period (in his treatise De captivitate Babylonica) maintained, though not on historical grounds, that the offering of the oblations of the people was the real origin of the conception of the sacrifice of the mass; but he directed all the force of his vehement polemic against the idea that any other sacrifice could be efficacious besides the sacrifice of Christ.

The origin of Udine is uncertain; though it lay on the line of the Via Iulia Augusta, there is no proof of its existence in Roman times.

Their origin is attributed by some to the moraine formation of former glaciers.

The name Arsaces of Persia is also borne by some kings of Armenia, who were of Parthian origin.

It is impossible to discuss the other theories of the origin of this name.

Probably the custom was of African origin, and came from eastern Africa along with the Semitic race.

Several indications favour the view of the connexion in the age of Moses between the Yahweh-cult at Sinai and the moon-worship of Babylonian origin to which the name Sinai points (Sin being the Babylonian moon-god).

It was cultivated in England in the 17th century, and the name C. lusitanica was given by Philip Miller, the curator of the Chelsea Physick garden, in 1768, in reference to its supposed Portuguese origin.

Lawsoniana, the Port Orford cedar, a native of south Oregon and north California, where it attains a height of Too ft., was introduced into Scotland in 1854; it is much grown for ornamental purposes in Britain, a large number of varieties of garden origin being distinguished by differences in habit and by colour of foliage.

At the outbreak of the Second Punic War (219 B.C.) it was a large and commercially prosperous town of native - not Greek - origin.

The pulpit appears to be of Byzantine origin (Rivoira).

The origin of the parasite and its mode of introduction into the blood remained to be discovered.

If the cycle be broken at any point the parasite must die out, assuming that it has no other origin or mode of existence.

Across the river from the town ancient earthworks (Bucton Castle), of British origin, are seen, and a Roman road passing them, and running north and south is also traceable.