the.com/citation

means A formal reference to a source that backs up a claim — or, in the less glamorous sense, a ticket for breaking the law.

from From Latin 'citare,' meaning 'to summon' or 'to set in motion,' itself a frequentative of 'ciere,' 'to move or call.' The word originally meant summoning someone to appear — a sense still alive when a police citation summons you to court. The academic sense grew from the idea of 'calling forth' an authority to support your argument, as if the cited author were being summoned to testify on your behalf.