authentication

[Eng. authentic ; -ation. In Sp. autenticacion ; Ital. autentica zione.] The act of authentication; the act of furnishing such evidence of authorship, trustworthine , or both, as may accredit a book 'or a document, or even a spoken statement. "The reign of Tullus Hostilius, like those of his two predece ors, is destitute of all authentication by coeval written evidence."-Lewis: Early Rom . Hist ., 'ch. xi., pt. i., § 18.