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Origin and history of origin

origin(n.)

c. 1400, "ancestry, race," from Latin originem (nominative origo) "a rise, commencement, beginning, source; descent, lineage, birth," from stem of oriri "arise, rise, get up; appear above the horizon, become visible; be born, be descended, receive life;" figuratively "come forth, take origin, proceed, start" (of rivers, rumors, etc.), from PIE *heri- "to rise" (source also of Hittite arai- "to arise, lift, raise," Sanskrit iyarti "to set in motion, move," Armenian y-arnem "to rise"). Meaning "beginning of existence" is from 1560s; sense of "that from which something derives its being or nature" is from c. 1600.

also from c. 1400

Entries linking to origin

aborigine(n.)

"person, animal, or plant that has been in a country or region from earliest times," 1858, mistaken singular of aborigines (1540s; aboriginal is considered the correct singular in English), from Latin aborigines "the first inhabitants," especially of Latium, hence "the first ancestors of the Romans." This is possibly a tribal name, or from or made to conform to the Latin phrase ab origine, which means literally "from the beginning."

This is from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + ablative of origo "a rise, commencement, beginning, source; descent, lineage, birth," from stem of oriri "arise, rise; be born, be descended, receive life" (see origin).

It was extended by 1789 to natives of other countries which Europeans had colonized, especially "aboriginal inhabitant of Australia," with capital A-. The Australian English slang shortening Abo is attested from 1922 as a noun, by 1906 as an adjective.

abort(v.)

1570s, "to miscarry in giving birth," from Latin abortus, past participle of aboriri "to miscarry, be aborted, fail, disappear, pass away," a compound word used in Latin for deaths, miscarriages, sunsets, etc., which according to OED is from ab, here as "amiss" (see ab-), + stem of oriri "appear, be born, arise," from PIE *heri- "to rise" (see origin). [Watkins, contra de Vaan, etc., derives the second element from a suffixed form of PIE root *er- (1) "move, set in motion."]

The English word is attested from 1610s as "to deliberately terminate" anything (intransitive), but especially a pregnancy in a human or animal. Intransitive use in aeronautics and space-flight is by 1946. Transitive meaning "to cause (a woman) to miscarry" is recorded by 1916; with the fetus or pregnancy as the object of the action, by 1966. Related: Aborted; aborting. The Latin verb for "produce an abortion" was abigo, literally "to drive away."