THEORY OF GAMES, 1944

[Thomas Paikeday]

In discussing who used "game theory" first, I think we should give prior
consideration to who first used "theory of games." The question is, is
"game theory" lexically different from "theory of games"? I think all
noun+noun phrases OF THIS KIND start with the above kind of phrase.
Thus, we have "professor of linguistics" vis-a-vis "lingusitcs
professor," "box of matches" v. "matchbox," etc., etc.

I think it all boils down to a question of usage, whether in a given
context one would say "theory of games" or "game theory." Of course, the
latter is shorter and faster to utter, hence the abbreviated form in the
first place, but I think the canonical form in compounds of this type
should be the linguistically original form.

Unless there is a trademark in question. (I am reminded of Walt Disney
v. West Edmonton Mall re "fantasyland" in which I was called in as an
expert witness. It was no use arguing that "land of fantasy" existed in
the public domain long before Disney started using it and gave it a
secondary meaning with proprietary rights to the trademark.

If we scan through Von Neumann & Morgenstein's 1944 book _Theory of
Games and Economic Behavior,_ we may hopefully find an instance or two
of "game theory," used for what Fowler called "elegant variation."
Perhaps Von Neumann's 1928 article on parlor games used "game theory."
Or ask von Neumann or Morenstein themselves if they are still alive.
Verbal utterances, of couse, are difficult to record and authenticate;
hence our relying on textual evidence.

And if you look futher into the composition of words in English, I
believe "game theory" could theoretically become "gametheory," just as
"match box" (1883) became "match-box," and finally "matchbox." The first
valid citation of the earliest use of "matchbox" should be the first
instance of "box of matches."

THOMAS M. PAIKEDAY
lexicographer since 1964
Latest work: _The User's(R) Webster_, 2000

"James A. Landau" wrote:
>
> In a message dated 04/07/2001 8:05:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU writes:
>
> > > Game theory appears in 1954 in The Compleat Strategyst by J. D. Williams
> >  > (David, 1998).
> >
> >  The OED gives this 1954 source as its first use.  Here is an earlier
> >  citation:
> >
> >  1946-47 Carl Kaysen in _Review of Economic Studies_ XIV. 14  It is
> >  extremely doubtful whether the degree of restriction of possible solutions
> >  offered by the "solution" of game-theory will be great enough to be of
> >  much practical value in really complex cases.
>
> There is a Web site on "Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of
> Mathematics" at http://members.aol.com/jeff570/mathword.html.  This Web site
> is the source of the 1954 citation cited above.  I trust Mr. Shapiro will be
> pleased to learn that his 1946-7 citation has already been posted there
> (where it will be seen by an OED editor who specializes in scientific
> terminology.)
>
> This is a very useful site for etymology of mathematical terms.
>
>      - James A. Landau