#155. [Assignment of cause] Attribution -- N. attribution, theory, etiology, ascription, reference to, rationale; accounting for &c. v,; palaetiology1, imputation, derivation from.
filiation[obs], affiliation; pedigree &c. (paternity) 166.
explanation &c. (interpretation) 522; reason why &c. (cause) 153.
V. attribute to, ascribe to, impute to, refer to, lay to, point to, trace to, bring home to; put down to, set down to, blame; charge on, ground on; invest with, assign as cause, lay at, the door of, father upon; account for, derive from, point out the reason &c. 153; theorize; tell how it comes; put the saddle on the right horse.
Adj. attributed &c. v.; attributable &c. v.; referable to, referrible to[obs], due to, derivable from; owing to &c. (effect) 154; putative; ecbatic[obs].
Adv. hence, thence, therefore, for, since, on account of, because, owing to; on that account; from this cause, from that cause; thanks to, forasmuch as; whence, propter hoc[Lat].
why? wherefore? whence? how comes it, how is it, how happens it? how does it happen?
in some way, in some such way; somehow, somehow or other.
Phr. that is why; hinc illae lachrymae [Lat][Horace]. <-- -----------------------------------------------------------
1. Whewell History of the inductive Sciences, book xviii vol. iii.p. 397 (3d edit.).
2 The word Chance has two distinct meanings: the first, the absence of assignable cause, as above; and the second, the absence of design -- for the latter see 621. -->