[Ads-l] analog(ue) computer

[James A. Landau]

Google Books gives a 1948 citation for "analog computer"

https://books.google.com/books?id=1p1GAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA53&dq=analog+computer&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi31_f8_9vKAhXHVz4KHdF2ACQ4ChDoAQguMAI#v=onepage&q=analog%20computer&f=false

Annual Report to the Board of Trustees 1946-1947
California Institute of Technology
January 1948
pages 53, 54, and 68

Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate agrees with the 1948 date.

The phrase "analog computer" probably antedates January 1948, but maybe not by much.  Analog computers have a long history, going back to the Antikythera Machine, but usually they were referred to by their specific function such as "Differential Analyzer".

As for "analogue computer" we have 

https://books.google.com/books?id=P_rxAAAAMAAJ&q=analogue+computer&dq=analogue+computer&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjam664g9zKAhUC2D4KHcwhBiM4ChDoAQguMAA

citing a paper read March 8, 1949, on "An analogue computer for the solution of linear simultaneous equations"

There is also 

https://books.google.com/books?id=rl4EAAAAYAAJ&q=analogue+computer&dq=analogue+computer&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP1vWHhNzKAhVDVj4KHc61DiMQ6AEITDAI

from Astounding Science Fiction, 1949 "the analogue type of computer".  It is interesting to note that a decade later Astounding changed its name to "Analog" without the "ue".

- Jim Landau (who last used an analog computer as a junior in college) 


_____________________________________________________________
Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org