文献在现代的解释为“记录有信息和知识的一切有形载体”。具体地，文献是将知识、信息用文本、符号、图像、音频等记录在一定的物质载体的结合体。

该词最早见于《论语·八佾》：“子曰，夏礼，吾能言之，杞不足征也。殷礼，吾能言之，宋不足征也。文献不足故也。足，则吾能征之矣。”文指典籍，献指人才。朱熹《论语集注》中解释：“文，典籍也。献，贤也。”后该词向偏义词演化，偏重于“文”，单指典籍。

从学术的角度看，文献是为官方或民间收藏的用来记录群体或个人在政治、经济、军事、文化、科学以及宗教等方面活动的文本或其它载体的材料。《书经》被看作是世界上最早的档案。商代的甲骨文档案是中国目前能见的最古老的历史档案。

A document is a written, drawn, presented or recorded representation of thoughts. Originating from the Latin Documentum meaning lesson - the verb doceō means to teach, and is pronounced similarly, in the past it was usually used as a term for a written proof used as evidence. In the computer age, a document is usually used to describe a primarily textual file, along with its structure and design, such as fonts, colors and additional images.