In law, a formal statement a witness makes under oath before a trial, recorded for later use. In science and geology, it means the process by which particles settle out of a fluid and build up as layers.
From Latin *deponere* ('to put down') via Medieval Latin *depositionem*, meaning 'a laying down'. The legal sense grew from the idea of 'laying down' testimony as an official record.
The same root explains why snow 'deposition' and legal 'deposition' share a name: in both cases, something is being carefully laid down to stay—flakes on the ground, or words in the record. It’s a reminder that language often recycles old images in new fields.
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