provenience: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for October 21 is:

provenience \pruh-VEE-nee-unss\ noun
: origin, source

Example sentence:
Its exact provenience is shrouded in mystery, but some people think the Hope diamond was cut from a gem stolen from the French crown jewels in 1792.

Did you know?
Did you suspect that "provenience" and "provenance" originate from the same source? You're right; they're parent and child. "Provenance" is the older of the two. It has been used to mean "origin" in English since at least the 1780s, when it was borrowed from French. Its linguistic grandfather is the French verb "provenir," meaning "to come forth, originate." The French verb, in turn, derives from Latin "provenire," a composite of "pro-" (meaning "forth") and "venire" (meaning "come"). "Provenience" is a chip off the old block, originating as a modification of "provenance" about 100 years after its parent debuted in English texts. The source of the extra syllable in "provenience" is most likely "proveniens," a participle of "provenire." (The similar Latin participle
"conveniens" gave us "convenience," another "venire" derivative.)

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