According to the Longman Dictionary for Advanced Learners, the verb originate can be used with the prepositions from, with, in, or as. However, it's not clear why I should choose one preposition over the other or even if they are all interchangeable.
o‧rig‧i‧nate /ë"rûdžÂneût/
1 [intransitive always + adverb/preposition, not in progressive] formal to come from a particular place or start in a particular situation: How did the plan originate?
originate from
A lot of our medicines originate from tropical plants.originate in
Many Christmas traditions originated in Germany.originate with
The idea originated with the ancient Greek philosophers.originate as
The town originated as a small fishing port.
I have an instinctive reaction to see 'originate from' as being possible to be used with a place, person or material, and to see 'originate in' to be used with a place (so interchangeable with 'from') but not with a material or person, and 'to originate with' to be used with a person (again interchangeable with 'from') but not with a place or material.
So I could say 'to originate from/in Brazil' or 'to originate from the Chinese' but only 'to originate from milk' and 'to originate with the Chinese'.
I can only see 'to originate as' as being possible when referring to the nature of something when that something first originated (I hope I'm being clear). For example, a settlement can originate as a mercantile community or an agricultural one (mercantile and agricultural communities being examples of settlements).
So, basically, I'm hoping someone will validate and/or correct my insights.