[Ads-l] Antedating of "IQ"

[Stephen Goranson]

OED online gives in etymology:
"... intelligence *n.*
<https://www.oed.com/dictionary/intelligence_n?tab=etymology#214378> +
quotient *n.*
<https://www.oed.com/dictionary/quotient_n?tab=etymology#27202053>, after
German Intelligenzquotient (W. Stern Die psychologischen Methoden der
Intelligenzprüfung und deren Anwendung an Schulkindern (1912) 48; the
abbreviation IQ. occurs on page 55 of the same source)."

A German book published in 1912 that is referred to in a U. S. journal
review of another work in March, 1912--that's fast. I wondered if the
journal was behind schedule or if William Stern used Intelligenzquotient
(or Intelligenz-Quotient) before 1912, but I didn't find such. This may
have caught my attention because Stern, after the Nazis ended his
professorship there, taught at Duke U.

On Fri, Sep 11, 2026 at 7:01 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> The citation below antedates both "I.Q." and "intelligence quotient" in
> the OED.
>
> Date: March 1912
> Periodical: Journal of Psycho-Asthenics
> Volume 17, Number 3
> Section: Review and Notices
> Quote Page 115
> Publisher: American Association for the Study of the Feeble Minded,
> Faribault, Minnesota
>
>
> https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Journal_of_Mental_Deficiency/xHU1AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22intelligence+quotient%22&pg=PA115&printsec=frontcover
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> We may divide the mental by the chronological age and obtain an
> "Intelligence quotient," (I.Q.) a term first used by Stern, which
> would represent the true degree of deficiency.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Fri, Sep 11, 2026 at 4:00 PM Shapiro, Fred
> <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > IQ (OED 1922)
> >
> > 1916 Lewis M. Terman The Measurement of Intelligence 78 (Internet
> Archive)
> >
> > Before we can interpret the results of an examination it is necessary to
> know how frequently an IQ of the size found occurs among unselected
> children.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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