fons et origo
/ˌfɒnz ɛt ˈɒrɪɡəʊ/ /fɒnz ɛt ɒˈrʌɪɡəʊ/noun
The source and origin of something: they recognized the sixties as the fons et origo of music as they knew it...
- At Cheltenham the sport is the fons et origo of the entire three days.
- The fons et origo of authority in that system - corporal punishment - will be absent from the series in spite of cane-flexing publicity photographs.
- Water is the universal congress of potentialities, the fons et origo, which precedes all form and all creation.
Origin
Latin, originally as fons et origo mali 'the source and origin of evil'.