The most important reason for, or element of, something.
The principal spring of a clockwork mechanism, which drives it by uncoiling.
Place or source of origin.
The copy history of a piece of data, or the intermediate pieces of data utilized to compute a final data element, as in a database record or web site (data provenance)
The execution history of computer processes which were utilized to compute a final piece of data (process provenance)
Background; history; place of origin
The history of ownership of a work of art
The place and time of origin of some artifact or other object. See Usage note below.
To establish the provenance of something