Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2018 April 22

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April 22

Commencinus?

Resolved

No, of course not, but I'm looking for an antonym of terminus. While the terminus aka terminal of a bus route normally doubles as its starting point, it needn't and quite often doesn't. Where it doesn't, is there a word for the starting point, the place where the first passengers board? (I think "first stop" would be permissible, but I don't like it: it somehow suggests to me that the the bus has already set off on its route and is making the first of several interruptions to this.) Thanks! -- Hoary (talk) 01:17, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

The original Latin meaning of terminus (etymologically termin-us, not term-inus, by the way) is "boundary line, limit", while the related Latin verb terminare primarily means "to set limits to" (with "to end" a secondary meaning). AnonMoos (talk) 02:38, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

Point of origin. Legacypac (talk) 03:40, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

Thank you both. Hmm, I may saved by the actual as opposed to misguessed etymology of "terminus". -- Hoary (talk) 10:04, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

Embarkation point, embarkation terminal? Especially if there are no stops on the journey. Akld guy (talk) 20:28, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

• How about "origin", or even "origination"?-Arch dude (talk) 04:06, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

Thank you, Akld guy and Arch dude. I think that I now have enough options. -- Hoary (talk) 13:40, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

Don't forget the one you used yourself: "starting point". --69.159.62.113 (talk) 20:02, 23 April 2018 (UTC)