pablo@uw-june (David Cohn) (02/08/86)
A year ago or so a friend and I were trying to decide on a name for a programming language we had created as part of a thesis. Convention being what it was, we were in search of some proper acronym, but failing to find one that tickled us appropriately, we settled on the name 'Havoc'. Here lies my question: I need, in order to efficiently answer the questions of others, the word that is the antonym of 'acronym'. Maybe 'the expansion of', but that doesn't sound right. I've been using the term 'anacronym' (pronounced like 'anachronism' with the 's' dropped). For example, "International Buusiness Machines (tm) is the anacronym of IBM (also tm)". In a world where we're being abbreviated past all common sense by the military and others who like to make us think that they know what's going on and noone else does, I'd think there'd be some call for a real English (American, or any other ASCII language) word for anacronyms. Am I mistaken? Am I in the wrong newsgroup? Or should I just call Willard Espy (not tm) and ask him in person? ------------ respectfully, -p
mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (MKR) (02/10/86)
In article <361@uw-june> pablo@uw-june (David Cohn) writes: > >Here lies my question: I need, in order to efficiently answer the questions >of others, the word that is the antonym of 'acronym'. Maybe 'the expansion >of', but that doesn't sound right. I've been using the term 'anacronym' >(pronounced like 'anachronism' with the 's' dropped). For example, >"International Buusiness Machines (tm) is the anacronym of IBM (also tm)". > >In a world where we're being abbreviated past all common sense by the >military and others who like to make us think that they know what's going on >and noone else does, I'd think there'd be some call for a real English >(American, or any other ASCII language) word for anacronyms. Am I mistaken? >Am I in the wrong newsgroup? Or should I just call Willard Espy (not tm) >and ask him in person? >------------ >respectfully, > -p As a side note - can anyone verify a piece of trivia I picked up somewhere? I heard that "acronym" itself is an acronym. If so, does anyone know what it stands for? --MKR
das@ucla-cs.UUCP (02/13/86)
In article <484@mmm.UUCP> mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (MKR) writes: > >As a side note - can anyone verify a piece of trivia I picked up somewhere? >I heard that "acronym" itself is an acronym. If so, does anyone know what >it stands for? You can check the answer yourself by consulting a dictionary (most give etymologies). Greek "akros" (point) + "onyma" (name). Why is it that when people don't know the origin of a word, they often conclude that it's an acronym? I'll go crazy if I hear another person say that "tip" comes from "to insure promptness", "posh" from "port out, starboard home", "fuck" from "for unlawful carnal knowledge" or "fornication under consent of the King", etc. Doesn't anyone know how to use a reliable dictionary?! And doesn't it cross anyone's mind that acronyms that come from the first letters of words (but not the ones that derive from first syllables) are not likely to arise in non-literate societies? Challenge: Find a pronounceable word that originated as an acronym before, say, 1800. The Greek "IXTHYS" pun doesn't count, of course, since the acronym was just a play on an existing word (the word means "fish", but is also an acronym for the Greek phrase meaning "Jesus Christ, son of God"). -- David Smallberg, das@locus.ucla.edu, {ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!das
marcus@wanginst.UUCP (Bob Marcus) (02/13/86)
In article <361@uw-june> pablo@uw-june (David Cohn) writes: >Here lies my question: I need, in order to efficiently answer the questions >of others, the word that is the antonym of 'acronym'. Maybe 'the expansion >of', but that doesn't sound right. I've been using the term 'anacronym' >(pronounced like 'anachronism' with the 's' dropped). For example, >"International Business Machines (tm) is the anacronym of IBM (also tm)". > First of all, IBM isn't really an acronym, but merely an abbreviation. An acronym is "a word formed from the initial letters of words in a phrase." For example, laser is an acronym, formed from "(l)ight (a)mplification by (s)timulated (e)mission of (r)adiation." Perhaps "protonym" is a good choice for the phrase from which an acronym is derived. "Proto-" is the Greek root for "original; earliest form of," as in "prototype". Thus the protonym of "scuba" is "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus". -- Bob Marcus marcus@wanginst (Csnet) Wang Institute of Graduate Studies wanginst!marcus (UUCP) Tyng Road, Tyngsboro, MA 01879 (617) 649-9731
mmar@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Mitchell Marks) (02/14/86)
Yes, protonym is a very nice term.
There's still a gap in the terminology, though, for what the original
poster called 'expansion' but wanted something nicer. It would apply
equally to acronyms, abbreviations, and hybrids (like CINCPAC etc) --
so that with equal appropriateness you could ask for the ____ of IBM
and also the ____ of 'laser'.
--
-- Mitch Marks @ UChicago
...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!mmarcarnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes) (02/15/86)
In article <1647@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> mmar@sphinx.UUCP (Mitchell Marks) writes: > >Yes, protonym is a very nice term. >There's still a gap in the terminology, though, for what the original >poster called 'expansion' but wanted something nicer. It would apply >equally to acronyms, abbreviations, and hybrids (like CINCPAC etc) -- >so that with equal appropriateness you could ask for the ____ of IBM >and also the ____ of 'laser'. I agree that "protonym" is a good word. It should properly mean "original or first name". For the more general meaning, how about "macronym", "holonym", "pleonym", or "pleistonym". Here are some more words that should be words but aren't: podonym word formed from last letters of words in full name megalonym big name teratonym monster name brontonym thunderous name idionym name known only to oneself calonym beautiful name caconym ugly name deinonym weird name sophonym wise name moronym dumb name tautonym same name metonym changed name mesonym middle name eschatonym last name -- Richard Carnes, ihnp4!gargoyle!carnes
nather@utastro.UUCP (Ed Nather) (02/15/86)
In article <8933@ucla-cs.ARPA>, das@ucla-cs.UUCP writes: > Challenge: Find a pronounceable word that originated as an acronym before, > say, 1800. The Greek "IXTHYS" pun doesn't count, of course, since the acronym > was just a play on an existing word (the word means "fish", but is also an > acronym for the Greek phrase meaning "Jesus Christ, son of God"). > > -- David Smallberg, das@locus.ucla.edu, {ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!das From "An Israel (sic) Haggadah for Passover" by Meyer Levin, page 54: Plague after plague was sent upon the Egyptians. In compassion and sorrow over the evil and suffering that exists in the world, our ancestors, in numbering the plagues, poured away with each word a drop of their wine of rejoicing. Rabbi Yehuda used only the initial for each plague, and made three words: D'tsach adash b'achav (necessarily a transliteration here, since most terminals don't speak Hebrew.) If I remember correctly, Rabbi Yehuda died before 1800. -- Ed Nather Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin {allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather nather@astro.UTEXAS.EDU
lambert@boring.UUCP (02/17/86)
In article <340@gargoyle.UUCP> carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes) writes: > [...] Here are some more words that should be words but aren't: > [...] > metonym changed name From a dictionary: metonym: a word used by metonymy. metonymy: (Rhet.) the use of a name of one thing for that of another to which it has some logical relation, as "scepter" for "sovereignty," or "the bottle" for "strong drink." -- Lambert Meertens ...!{seismo,okstate,garfield,decvax,philabs}!lambert@mcvax.UUCP CWI (Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science), Amsterdam
mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (MKR) (02/17/86)
In article <1647@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> mmar@sphinx.UUCP (Mitchell Marks) writes: > > >Yes, protonym is a very nice term. >There's still a gap in the terminology, though, for what the original >poster called 'expansion' but wanted something nicer. It would apply >equally to acronyms, abbreviations, and hybrids (like CINCPAC etc) -- >so that with equal appropriateness you could ask for the ____ of IBM >and also the ____ of 'laser'. >-- > > -- Mitch Marks @ UChicago > ...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!mmar Derivation? --MKR
kay@warwick.UUCP (Kay Dekker) (03/10/86)
In article <8933@ucla-cs.ARPA> das@ucla-cs.UUCP (David Smallberg) writes: >Challenge: Find a pronounceable word that originated as an acronym before, >say, 1800. The Greek "IXTHYS" pun doesn't count, of course, since the acronym >was just a play on an existing word (the word means "fish", but is also an >acronym for the Greek phrase meaning "Jesus Christ, son of God"). > >-- David Smallberg, das@locus.ucla.edu, {ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!das Well, this doen't *quite* count, but I thought it might be of interest: the word "cabal" (which in its common uses is derived from Fr. "cabale", Lat. "cab(b)ale", and Heb. "kabbala") is in history specifically applied to the five ministers of Charles II of England: Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale, who signed the Treaty of Alliance with France in 1672. Kay. -- "I AM; YOU ARE; HELLO: all else is poetry" ... mcvax!ukc!warwick!kay