Short takes: INITIALISM

Victor Steinbok aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM
Wed Mar 31 10:01:06 UTC 2010


As the discussion about txting progressed, I began wondering about the
use of acronyms and initialisms /as nomenclature/. OED gives Feb 1943
issue of American Notes & Queries as the earliest source, Wiki pins the
Bell Labs as coining the term in the same year--sounds plausible, but
not definitive.

But initialisms go back further. OED cites back to 1899. The first two
citations refer to initialisms as signature conventions, but this
switches to the "modern" sense of forming abbreviations from initials.

It would be interesting to figure out when the second meaning appeared.
But this is not something I can do in a few minutes. But I can easily
antedate the primary earlier meaning by at least 30 years.

http://bit.ly/b59aLD
Handbook for Fictitious Names : Being a Guide to Authors, Chiefly in the
Lighter Literature of the XIXth Century, Who Have Written under Assumed
Names ; and to Literary Forgers, Impostors, Plagiarists, and Imitators.
By Olphar Hamst, Esq. 1868

Although I could not find any sentences that mentioned or described
initialism, the first entry in the book is "A. /initialism/. [Matthew
Arnold.] The Strayed Reveller, and other Poems (signed A.) 1848".

So that's 30+ years back from 1899. How about 300+? No? Well, good,
because the source is actually wrong. He refers to the very work cited
above, but the article mistakenly has "1568" for "1868". I'm going to
reproduce the entire piece in a separate post because I suspect it may
be of interest to a few people for reasons /other than/ initialisms.

http://bit.ly/cNQmMR
The National Teacher. Vol. 3:7. July, 1873.
http://bit.ly/b80h9l
The Ohio Educational Monthly: Organ of the Ohio Teachers' Association.
New Series, Vol. 14:7. July, 1873.
A Few Words Not in the Dictionaries. William Downs Henkle (Salem, Ohio).
p. 252
> Olphar Hamst, Esq., is the author of a book entitled "Handbook for
> Fictitious Names", published in London in 1568 [sic], He coins the
> folowing new words for the different modes of concealing or indicating
> authorship:
>> /Initialism, titlonym, pseudo-titlonym, semi-initialism, phraseonym,
>> ironym, geonym, phreonym, demonym, apocryph, prenonym,
>> phreno-demonym, enigmatic-initialism, geo-demonym, phreno-geonym,
>> pseudo-geonym, scenonym, polynym, crytograph, psendadry [sic, s/b
>> pseudoandry], aristonym, anastroph, translationym, allonym, telonism,
>> pseudojyn, ananym, cryptonym, pharmaconym, alphabetism,
>> pseudo-initialism, antonym./
> It is a case of /pseudoandry/ when a woman adopts a man's name ; for
> instance, Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, afterward Dudevant, signed
> herself George Sand, and a /pseudojyn/ (better /pseudogyn/) when a man
> adopts a woman's name. It would be a case of /telonism/ if I, William
> Downs Henkle, should sign myself M. S. E., these being the final
> letters of my three names.

It seems logical to suggest that Olphar Hamst is a pseudonym and that he
left more than a few hints to his own identity throughout the book.
Perhaps someone has already published on the subject and this is known
to members of this list--I don't know, I have not looked.

OK, I'm lying now--it took about 30 seconds to figure out that this is
an anagram for Ralph Thomas. Now, who was Ralph Thomas? The work seems
to be well known and there are several recent references to it--and it
was republished in 1971 and a new facsimile edition might have been
published last year. Not so for the articles on the work that followed
in the immediate five years after its publication. But identifying
Thomas with this book is actually a simple matter--he also authored
Martyr to Bibliography: A Notice of the Life and Works of Joseph-Marie
Querard, Bibliographer.

Not surprisingly, the pamphlet was "advertised" in the larger work, was
published a year earlier and, therefore, the coinage of many terms
appears in the pamphlet before it appears in the book.

http://bit.ly/aFzO6p
p. 48.
> INITIALISM.--Only the initials of the real author, as R. B.
> (Brathwaite), T. B. (Brewer).(6) S.E.B. (Sir E. Bridges).
> ---
> (6) Both wrote under their initials, a very common practice in earlier
> times. Mr. Hazlitt in his /Hand-book/, 1867, does not give cross
> references from either of these, perhaps he considered them
> sufficiently known.

As for Thomas, in 1880, he published Aggravating Ladies: being a List of
Works published under Pseudonym of "A Lady" (also under Olphar Hamst).
The Monthly Notes of the Library Association of the United Kingdom
clearly matched the pseudonym to his real name.
http://bit.ly/bNeBac

Why all the hubbub about Ralph Thomas? Note the first OED citation.

Shockingly, the story does not end there. Although it would have been
great to nail down Ralph Thomas's coinage--and he may well be
responsible, as most sources between 1867 and 1899 that mention
"initialism" cite one of Thomas's works--things are not so simple. In
fact, it seems that the /general/ meaning of initialism precedes its use
with names. In other words, Thomas may well be responsible for the
coinage of "initialism" as applied to signatures or names identified
only by the initials.

On the other hand, initialism, as a concept, is considerably older.
Aside from Roman use (e.g., SPQR), initialisms and acronyms are also
behind much of Hebrew Biblical and post-Biblical symbolism. Although the
more elaborate Jewish symbolism originates with ibn Gabirol, in the 11th
century, and takes full bloom 200 years later, some vestiges of
initialism can be found in much earlier periods, including the early
Talmudic period. This fact did not escape Christian theologists and the
topic was originally mentioned in organized Biblical research--at least,
in England. In fact, the Hellenistic and Roman culture of the turn of
the millennium also had their own initialist symbols and the connection
could not be avoided.

I found one such instance in 1844. It does appear to be isolated, but it
still essential. It is, in fact, an early precursor of modern use,
separated by nearly 100 years (almost exactly 100, if "acronym" was
indeed coined at Bell Labs in 1943).

http://bit.ly/96n7jW
The Cristian's Monthly Magazine and Review. Edited by Clergymen of the
Church of England. Vol. 2. July-December 1844 (London)
Symbolism. No. IV. p. 48
... But the fish is also made a symbol of "Jesus Christ, God's Son, the
Saviour," from the Greek words expressive of those titles having for
their initials the letters of the Greek name for fish. And this symbol
to be used in a land where Greek is not spoken! ... Shickard, in the
17th century, learnedly traced the second kind of artificial Cabala,
called by the Italian Jews, Notericon, into a remote antiquity. The
initial Notaricon he compared with the alphabetic poetry of the Hebrew,
(which had a use in the arrangement,) with the acrostic arguments to
Plautus's comedies, with a Sibylline acrostic on the Saviour in Cicero,
/l. de Div/., and with the surname of Judas Maccabaeus (MaCaBAI),
derived from his standard bearing the initials of the Hebrew Text, "Who
like Thee among the Gods, Jehovah?" (Ex. xv. 11.) Which was possibly his
improvement on the S. P. Q. R. of the ensigns of the Roman conquerors of
Macedonia. Shickard found, also, a modification or imitation of this
Maccabee Initialism in a standard of Maximilian's : cited a curious
alphabetical apophthegm of a devotional nature in German, and so in
Hebrew a description of the name Tri-Unity, and from the original of
Solomon's Song, the name of truth ; while by the same process he
discovered in the prophecy of Shilo and in the Psalms (lxxii. 17, and
xcvi. 12,) the express name of Jesu, which he affirms to have amazed and
even converted Jews.

Between the two--1844 and 1867--lie three sources in French. The 1853
and 1857 pieces are substantialy the same, and use the word "initialism"
next to "anonyme" and "pseudon.", so the meaning is unambiguous.
http://bit.ly/9ULzng
http://bit.ly/a2arFk

Both are entries for Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Nougaret, although the 1857
one is much more detailed and extensive.

The remaining 1865 source is an ad for a book by none other than J. M.
Querard. (Presumably, the book itself would also contain all the
terminology).

http://bit.ly/c4gfxU
> Qui se sont deguises sous des anagrammes, des asteronymes, des
> boustrophedons, des cryptonymes, des initialismes, des noms
> litteraires, des pseudonymes facetieux et bizarres, etc., decouverts
> ou non ; des auteurs apocryphes at supposes, des plagiaires et des
> sditeurs infideles de la litterature francaise pendant les quatre
> derniers siecles. Ensemble les industriels litteraires et les lettres
> qui se sont anoblis a notre epoque,
>         PAR J. M. Querard
> Auteur de la France litteraire, chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, Avec
> le concours de Bibliothecaires et Bibiophiles francais, belges,
> suisses, etc., etc.

So, it appears, Ralph Thomas did not merely coined the terminology--he
simply stole it from the French terms used by his hero Mr. Querard.

I'll leave it to the dictionary people to figure out whether Ralph
Thomas is indeed the initial user of "initialism" in English in the
sense related to names. But the 1844 entry is unique. Perhaps more can
be found in theological literature.

     VS-)
===

OED:

Initialism
The use of initials; a significative group of initial letters. Now
/spec/. a group of initial letters used as an abbreviation for a name or
expression, each letter or part being pronounced separately (contrasted
with ACRONYM).

*1899* R. THOMAS in /N. & Q/. 9th Ser. III. 103/1 In my 'Handbook' I
give an initialism of Mr. Watts's, 'P. P. C. R.' *1928* [see
/pseudandry/ s.v. PSEUDO- 2a]. *1965* (/title/) Acronyms and initialisms
dictionary (Gale Research Company). *1975* /Globe & Mail/ (Toronto) 22
May 10/4 Americanization has also largely done away with periods in
acronyms and initialisms. *1979* /Amer. Speech 1976/ Ll. 77 KSSU (an
initialism of initialisms: KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), SAS (Scandinavian
Airlines System), Swissair, and UTA (Union de Transports Aeriens)).
*1981* /Maledicta/ V. 95 The acronym..and its cousin, the
initialism..are perhaps the newest devices for forming nicknames for
ethnic groups. *1984* /Word Ways/ XVII. I. 48 The work consulted by
Wolpow distinguishes abbreviations and initialisms.

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