[Ads-l] "Open Source" Not in OED

[Shapiro, Fred]

Thanks to Daphne and Dave and Amy for their excellent responses to my posting about "open source" software.

Fred Shapiro



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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Daphne Preston-Kendal <dpk at NONCEWORD.ORG>
Sent: Sunday, December 3, 2023 6:25 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: "Open Source" Not in OED

On 3 Dec 2023, at 03:41, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> The term "open source," referring to software, is not yet in OED.  The earliest use I see in LexisNexis is PR Newswire, Feb. 23, 1998.

The Open Source Initiative claims the term was invented in a meeting on 3 February 1998, so it’s unlikely to go very much further back in terms of public mentions relevant to the political movement per se. <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fopensource.org%2Fhistory%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C42caea5090a8428397cc08dbf3f29365%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638371995408543745%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=76vEkdQu9LRR8kV6EOacS7GtXF1djXZFbap9KS5bo2I%3D&reserved=0<https://opensource.org/history/>>

That said, here’s a usage from 1996 predating that movement: <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgroups.google.com%2Fg%2Fno.linux%2Fc%2F1UZo-3iv0tM%2Fm%2FXPrPljdFk6gJ&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C42caea5090a8428397cc08dbf3f29365%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638371995408543745%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=HrQqwijhHHAHTzoEbTJTKdFabhGrwY9iLhErovMngnI%3D&reserved=0<https://groups.google.com/g/no.linux/c/1UZo-3iv0tM/m/XPrPljdFk6gJ>>

You can push back the references to the political movement by a week or two with a Google Groups search for ["open source" before:1998-02-23]. Here’s the earliest I could find: <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgroups.google.com%2Fg%2Fgnu.misc.discuss%2Fc%2FUlEsHndTByk%2Fm%2FIe0Ma2r9AKUJ&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C42caea5090a8428397cc08dbf3f29365%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638371995408543745%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Nrf8X360%2BcKGw23zTGHXT1NjtOhGx%2BIcPh7eGZqkAEo%3D&reserved=0<https://groups.google.com/g/gnu.misc.discuss/c/UlEsHndTByk/m/Ie0Ma2r9AKUJ>>
The linked web page isn’t in the WayBack Machine until 1999.

‘Open source intelligence’ predates the software use by at least a few years, it seems. Possibly an influence.


Daphne

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