derivation - the source from which something derives (i.e. comes or issues); "he prefers shoes of Italian derivation"

spring - a point at which water issues forth

headspring, fountainhead, head - the source of water from which a stream arises; "they tracked him back toward the head of the stream"

headwaters - the source of a river; "the headwaters of the Nile"

wellhead, wellspring - the source of water for a well

jumping-off place, point of departure - a place from which an enterprise or expedition is launched; "one day when I was at a suitable jumping-off place I decided to see if I could find him"; "my point of departure was San Francisco"

place of origin, provenance, birthplace, cradle - where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence; "the birthplace of civilization"

home - place where something began and flourished; "the United States is the home of basketball"

point source - a spatially constricted by concentrated source (especially of radiation or pollution)

trail head, trailhead - the beginning of a trail

point - the precise location of something; a spatially limited location; "she walked to a point where she could survey the whole street"

ancestry, filiation, lineage, derivation - inherited properties shared with others of your bloodline

full blood - descent from parents both of one pure breed

beginning - the event consisting of the start of something; "the beginning of the war"

germination - the origin of some development; "the germination of their discontent"

cause - events that provide the generative force that is the origin of something; "they are trying to determine the cause of the crash"

prelude, overture, preliminary - something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows; "training is a necessary preliminary to employment"; "drinks were the overture to dinner"

procession, emanation, rise - (theology) the origination of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; "the emanation of the Holy Spirit"; "the rising of the Holy Ghost"; "the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son"

intersection - a point or set of points common to two or more geometric configurations

kinfolk, kinsfolk, phratry, family line, sept, folk, family - people descended from a common ancestor; "his family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower"

breed - a special lineage; "a breed of Americans"

side - a family line of descent; "he gets his brains from his father's side"

family tree, genealogy - successive generations of kin