[Ads-l] Earliest True Acronym

[James Eric Lawson]

Nobody has mentioned 'abjad', which OEDO cites in the form *abjud* as an 
acronym appearing in English as early as 1793. The 1818 attestation in 
OEDO seems a more likely first appearance in English.

On 1/26/24 10:13, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Is the "mmkay" pronunciation of "OK" an initialism?
> 
> Presumably.
> 
> JL
> 
> On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 12:11 PM Geoffrey Nathan <geoffnathan at wayne.edu>
> wrote:
> 
>> Apologies—I'd forgotten that we make a distinction between
>> initialisms and acronyms.
>>
>> Just for fun, however, how do we treat 'okey doke(y)'?
>>
>> Geoff
>>
>>
>> Geoffrey S. Nathan
>> WSU Information Privacy Officer (Retired)
>> Emeritus Professor, Linguistics Program
>> http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/
>>
>> geoffnathan at wayne.edu
>>
>> Nobody at Wayne State will EVER ask you for your password. Never send it
>> to anyone in an email, no matter how authentic the email looks.
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
>> Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
>> Sent: Friday, January 26, 2024 11:09 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Subject: Re: Earliest True Acronym
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Earliest True Acronym
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> It's an initialism, not an acronym. It's pronounced as the separate
>> letters "O" and "K", not as a monosyllabic word like the tree "oak".
>>
>> Jesse Sheidlower
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 04:06:01PM +0000, Geoffrey Nathan wrote:
>>> While I don't want to start a fight here, isn't the proposed etymology
>>> of OK as being from the abbreviation of 'Old Kinderhook' an example
>>> of an early pronounced acronym? It dates to the 1830's.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Geoffrey S. Nathan
>>> WSU Information Privacy Officer (Retired)
>>> Emeritus Professor, Linguistics Program
>>> http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/
>>>
>>> geoffnathan at wayne.edu
>>>
>>> Nobody at Wayne State will EVER ask you for your password. Never send it
>> to anyone in an email, no matter how authentic the email looks.
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
>> Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>>> Sent: Friday, January 26, 2024 7:59 AM
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Subject: Earliest True Acronym
>>>
>>> [EXTERNAL]
>>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>>> Subject:      Earliest True Acronym
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
>> Shapir=
>>> o, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>>> Sent: Thursday, December 2, 2010 2:32 PM
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Subject: Earliest Acronym
>>>
>>> I apologize if someone else has already pointed this out, but Bill's
>> second=
>>>   citation below is very significant in that it may establish the claim
>> that=
>>>   SCOTUS is the earliest known acronym in the English language (although,
>> de=
>>> pending on the precise definition of "acronym," there are some other
>> abbrev=
>>> iations in the 1879 Phillips Telegraphic Code that may be tied with
>> SCOTUS =
>>> for this honor).
>>>
>>> Fred Shapiro
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>> Mullin=
>>> s, Bill AMRDEC [Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL]
>>> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 11:02 AM
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>> Subject: Re: Antedating SCOTUS (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>>
>>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>>> Caveats: NONE
>>>
>>>
>>> Walter P. Phillips _The Phillips Telegraphic Code for the Rapid
>>> Transmission by Telegraph_ Wash, DC:  Gibson Brothers, 1879.
>>>
>>>
>>> p. 59 col 2:
>>> "Pot -- President of the."
>>>
>>> p. 65 col 2:
>>> "Scotus -- Supreme Court of the United States"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
>>>> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 9:27 AM
>>>> To: 'American Dialect Society'
>>>> Subject: Antedating SCOTUS (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>>>
>>>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>>>> Caveats: NONE
>>>>
>>>> _Milwaukee [WI] Sentinel_ 12/6/1891, p 10 col 1 [Gale 19th Cent
>>> newspapers]
>>>>
>>>> "For instance, the receiver's sounder will tick out the letters
>>> "scotus."
>>>> There is no meaning in this combination of letters, but the operator
>>> gets a
>>>> hustle upon himself as soon as he hears it and writes down, "the
>>> Supreme court
>>>> of the United states." "
>>>>
>>>> _Charlotte [NC] Observer_ 10/18/1892 p 1 col 4 [GenealogyBank]
>>>>
>>>> "The case then came to Scotus.  The case was argued last Tuesday."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> A slightly earlier cite is found at America's GenealogyBank.
>>>>> 14 April 1895, _Birmingham(AL) Age-Herald_ 21/3
>>>>>
>>>>> Talking about the United Press "code" in use for about seven years
>>> on the
>>>>> telegraph-to-newspaper circuit.
>>>>>
>>>>> "In addition the more frequent phrases are skeletonized to the limit
>>> of
>>>>> safety.  "Scotus" is "supreme court of the United States;" "potus,"
>>>>> "president of the United States;"
>>>>>

-- 
James Eric Lawson

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