At 07:32 PM 4/13/01 +0530, Anosh wrote the following:
>Could anyone tell me if the word COMPUTER is actually an acronym. Do each
>of the letters stand for something?
>Could anyone direct me to a site where I can read up on how the computer
>got its name?
Computer is NOT an acronym. The word dates back to approximately 1642-1647
when
Blaise Pascal developed his -Machine Arithmetique-
You will probably have to use your local library and look at the OED to find
the etymology of the word computer.
From Dr. Dictionary (http://dictionary.com/doctor/)
<quote>
According to the Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, computer came
into use in English in 1646 as a word for a "person who computes'" and then
by 1897 as a "mechanical calculating machine." The word referred to an
electronic machine by 1946, perhaps as early as 1941. It is formed from the
word compute, which was borrowed in 1631 from the French computer, which was
a learned borrowing from Latin computare, meaning "to count, sum up."
<unquote>
--
Gerry Boyd -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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