attestation

1. (business, finance) The process, performed by accountants or auditors, of providing independent opinion on published financial and other business records of an enterprise, public agency, or other organization.countableuncountable

2. (linguistics, of a language, word, word form, or word meaning) An appearance in print or otherwise recorded on a permanent medium.Examples: "A historical dictionary cannot do this though it cannot also neglect this aspect because the attestation of a rare meaning is bound to be very limited."; "The eastern-most attestation of Sl skola in the meaning of synagogue appears to be in Smolensk Russian."; "So something must have been developing over long periods empty of attestation; and whatever it was, it must (by principles to be discussed in the next section) have been a language of the usual kind."countableuncountable