When to use 来源 and when to use 根源

Question

Recently, on a language exchange platform, I tried to describe one of my favourite books (Thucidides, from which I had to learn a lot of passages) as follows:

我所喜歡的書頗多，包含古希臘的經文在內。比如說希臘歷史學家修昔底德的傑作《伯羅奔尼撒戰爭》。它以一次內戰為题目，敘述它的來源和發展。大家討論的「修昔底德陷阱」也來源於此。

Native speakers made several corrections, but I think it is more useful for future users if I split them into different questions.

One of the corrections was that 来源 in 來源和發展 was replaced with 根源。How can I understand the difference of these, so as to pick the correct one in the feature? In English “origins of the Cold War” is a wide spread phrase. Should I pick 根源 whenever I am talking about causal origins?

Answer 1

它(修昔底德的傑作)以一次內戰為题目，敘述它(內戰)的來源和發展。

Let's translate and compare:

它(內戰)的來源 - Where the civil war originally was coming from?

它(內戰)的根源 - Where the civil war originally was rooted?

You can see the difference between the two, and notice that both are illogical. Because, even though I haven't read the book, it seems the book describes "how" the war (reasoning) started and its development afterward, not "from where", or "where", the war started.

In here "起原", "根原", "原由", all would be a better choice because they express the sense of "root reason", or "root cause".

Lastly, I think you know well that repeating the same pronoun in a sentence with each refers to a different object is a "no-no" in writing.

Answer 2

来 - come

源 - source (literally: source of water)

来源 = source

e.g. 美國毒品的主要来源是墨西哥 (the main source of illegal drugs in the US is Mexico)

~

根 - root

根源 = root cause; origin

e.g. 欲望是犯罪的根源 (desire is the root cause of crime)

「修昔底德陷阱」也來源於此。

It is better to replace 也來源於此 with 也是源出於此

源出 = origin from; source from ; cause by

根源 is a noun, not a good choice in this context