Tron

[D. Ezra Johnson]

I had a teacher in elementary school  (late '80's) who, somewhat jokingly,
used "Walktron" to avoid the gender implications of "Walkman".

How did this morpheme "Tron" acquire the approximate meaning of
"gender-neutral, not to say robotic, agent"?

If it originates in "automaton" we need to explain the "r".

I think the origin of the form is "electron" (and "neutron") -- from there
we got other formations like "positron" and of course "electronic".

But these don't have any "agentive" sense to them. I feel embarrassed now
because this suffix is in the dictionary.

-tron "a combining form extracted from ELECTRON, used in the names of
electron tubes (magnetron) and of devices for accelerating subatomic
particles (cyclotron); also, more generally, in the names of any kind of
chamber or apparatus for conducting experiments (biotron)." (Random House)

No date is given, but the first magnetron is apparently 1921, the first
cyclotron 1929, and the first biotron 1966. This from quick Web searches.

Another quick Web search revealed forms like "Name-o-Tron", "Abuse-a-Tron",
"Tune-o-Tron", and "Phrase-o-Tron" -- showing the productiveness of this
suffix in a slightly different sense, that of an automatic device performing
a certain specific function.

Although robots are stereotypically male (e.g. the trademark low monotone),
I think the shift from "robotic" to "gender-neutral" makes some sense. With
"waitron", there is additional support from the form "waitress" which
already has the 'r'.

There is also the 1982 Disney film Tron, which featured an "Electronic
World" populated by characters such as RAM, BIT, CROM, and of course TRON.
Although they rode around on light cycles, any connection there to
"cyclotron" is surely too far-fetched. The success of this movie could have
helped the meaning evolve.

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