Literary notes about referable (AI summary)
The term "referable" is used in literature to denote the attribution of a particular quality, cause, or origin to a subject. In some texts, such as in Anne Brontë’s work, it serves to clarify that certain behaviors are not due to an assumed influence like wine, emphasizing deliberate action rather than accidental circumstance [1]. In scientific or observational contexts, as in H. G. Wells' narrative, it helps to indicate that geological features can be linked to specific natural processes [2], while in social commentary, like that of Jacob A. Riis, it directs responsibility or causality to identifiable factors within urban settings [3]. The term also appears in more theoretical or analytical discourses, where it underpins arguments attributing outcomes, whether mental or physical, to definite causes—illustrated both in Jesse Henry Jones’ critique and Lewis Carroll’s geological conjecture [4][5].
- But the whole system of your conduct to Lady Lowborough is not referable to wine; and this night you knew perfectly well what you were doing.’
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - Metalliferous veins referable to such agency are occasionally a few inches wide, but more commonly three or four feet.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells - This is exclusive of deaths in institutions, properly referable to the tenements in most cases.
— from How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York by Jacob A. Riis - Each is inconceivable; and the inconceivability of each is referable to the same cause, namely, mental imbecility.
— from Know the Truth: A Critique on the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation by Jesse Henry Jones - It is possible, as Mr. Geikie conjectures, that this second striation of the boulders may be referable to floating ice.
— from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
