not particularly new, but...

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 10:25 AM, David Barnhart <dbarnhart at highlands.com> wrote:
>
> I've been noodling about in the electronic databanks working on an entry for
> up-cycle/upcycle and derivatives.
>
> This gaggle of forms is not particularly new (therefore I shall probably not
> nominate it or them for WOTY).  So far the earliest form appears to be
> upcycle (v.) from 2003.  But, I'm still looking.

"Upcycling" was a runner-up for NOAD WOTY in 2007:

http://blog.oup.com/2007/11/locavore/

The word is often attributed to William McDonough and Michael
Braungart in their book "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make
Things", first published in April 2002. But here it is a couple of
years earlier than that:

---
2000 Charles F.  Hendriks _De ecologische stad_ 71 There is a
difference in the reuse of construction and demolition waste. This
waste can be recycled, downcycled or upcycled.… When the recycled
material is used for a better function than the original material it
is called upcycling (fly ash used in cement or concrete).
http://books.google.com/books?id=BDtkO-ZQ4BYC&pg=PA71
---

The same quote appears in this 2000 publication:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Za2_YSGspQwC&pg=PA151


--Ben Zimmer

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