[Ads-l] Antedating of "Billion"

[Barretts Mail]

The most recent citation for “milliard” in the OED is 1991. Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/milliard#English <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/milliard#English>) labels “milliard” as rare. 

Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
Formerly of Seattle, WA

> On 9 Oct 2022, at 19:43, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Fred Shapiro wrote:
>> billion (OED, 2., 1834)
>> 
>> 1814 Peter Barlow _A New Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary_ s.v. _billion_
>> 
>> The French mathematicians understanding billion to mean thousands of millions.
> 
> Excellent citation Fred. Intriguing topic.
> 
> In 1808 a writer in “The British Critic” discussed the ambiguity of
> the term “billion” and recommended defining “billion” as a thousand
> million. Apparently, his proposal was not adopted in the U.K. at that
> time. In the U.K. a billion was a million million in the past. The
> definition has been shifting during the past seventy years (I think).
> For example, currently, a billion is a thousand million “in official
> UK statistics”. (See further below)
> 
> Date: July 1808
> Periodical: The British Critic
> Article: Florian-Jolly's Course of Sciences
> Start Page 36, Quote Page 40
> Database: Google Books Full View
> 
> https://books.google.com/books?id=EHpPAQAAMAAJ&q=%22much+clearer%22#v=snippet&
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> Moreover, the division of numbers into parcels of three figures, each
> classed under different names, will render the reading them much
> clearer: it is easier to say four billions than four thousand
> millions.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> 
> Website: UK Parliament - House of Commons Library
> Article: What is a billion? And other units
> Date: Published Friday, 23 January, 2009
> 
> https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04440/
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> What is a billion?
> What constitutes a billion is a source of occasional confusion.  In
> official UK statistics the term is now used to denote 1 thousand
> million – 1,000,000,000.  Historically, however, in the UK the term
> billion meant 1 million million – 1,000,000,000,000 – but in the
> United States the term was used to refer to 1 thousand million. The US
> value had, however, become increasingly used in Britain and the Prime
> Minister, Harold Wilson confirmed in a written reply in 1974 that the
> meaning of “billion” would be thousand-million, in conformity with
> international usage.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Garson


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