vera causa

English

Etymology

From Latin vera (“true”) + causa (“cause”).

Noun

vera causa

1. The true or real cause of something.
   • 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 422:

     Max von Pettenkofer […] upheld a version of the miasmatic theory and denied the bacillus was the vera causa of cholera.