Short takes: INITIALISM

Wed Mar 31 14:17:18 UTC 2010

At 6:01 AM -0400 3/31/10, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>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.

Not counting "O.K." and other jocular abbreviations from that period,
as documented in detail by Allen Walker Read, I assume.  Possibly
O.K. is the only one from those years to have survived (as opposed to
e.g. "K.Y." for 'know yuse', i.e. 'no use', and others of that kind),
but one of my favorites (as posted here a few years back) is "b4" for
'before'.

LH

>  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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