Derivacioun

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The tracing of something back to its source or origin ; the diversion of water or another flow into a channel
2. An archaic term for the descent or origin of a thing ; the act of drawing off a stream into another course
3. Ancestry or source from which something springs ; a turning aside of a river or current into a separate channel

Etymology: "Derivacioun" is a Middle English word, recorded from the late 14th century, and it is an early borrowing from Latin "derivatio," a noun built from "derivare," meaning "to lead off" or "to draw off." The Latin verb was itself a compound of "de-" (away from) and "rivus," a stream, so the original picture is of water diverted from its channel into a new course. Medieval writers carried that image over to lineage, where a family line is pictured as flowing down from a source. The English sense of "descent from ancestors" reflects this stream metaphor directly. Early uses in English also covered the drawing off of liquids and the tracing of a word from another word, which is the sense modern linguists use. The Old French form "derivacion" was the immediate channel for many such borrowings, though the English spelling with "-ioun" shows the Anglo-Norman influence on Middle English orthography.