Origin:
The phrase has a very simple origin, stemming from the basic structure of English grammar.
* "It" is a pronoun used as a placeholder for the subject of the sentence.
* "Happened" is the past tense of the verb "to happen," which means to occur or take place.
Therefore, "it happened" is simply a concise way to say that something occurred, without needing to specify what that something was.
Example:
* "What happened?"
* "It happened."
This phrase is so common and basic that it doesn't really have a specific historical origin or interesting etymology. It's simply a natural and intuitive way to describe an event in English.