An etymologist can trace the origin and development of a word, but who can identify the moment when absolutely took off?

CNN: The words you love to hate

New regulations likely to be proposed by the State Department next year may follow guidelines being drafted by the UN and the OECD, a rich-country club, that will advise companies on how best to trace the origin of their materials.

ECONOMIST: Congo's conflict minerals

The proposals to be brought forward would address the fact the police - who can already tell when, where and who made a mobile phone call or sent a text message - cannot always trace the origin of an email, a message sent via instant messaging or a phone call made over the internet.

BBC: 'Fresh proposals' planned over cyber-monitoring

The typical Viennese coffee house -- an elegant institution with high ceilings, marble-top tables and a stack of newspapers to make one linger over an impeccable black brew with a customary glass of water -- may be more famously known than its Ukrainian cousin, but to trace back the origin of the communal coffee space, you have to go to Lviv, a Medieval city in western Ukraine.

BBC: Tracing the coffee house revolution to its Ukrainian roots

Police are still trying to trace the gunman, his accomplice and the origin of a white Vauxhall Astra van used by them to flee the scene.

BBC: Peter Singleton

It can be difficult to link all these addresses and trace them back to the origin.

BBC: 'Fresh proposals' planned over cyber-monitoring

"Because mutations start occurring at regular intervals in these genes as soon as a new species evolves - like the ticking of a clock - we can use them to trace the evolutionary history of a species back to its time of origin, " said Dr Hedges.

BBC: Earth AP