Questions for English Majors

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005, Byron L. Sonne wrote:

> Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 18:20:11 -0500
> From: Byron L. Sonne <blsonne-bJEeYj9oJeDQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org>
> Reply-To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
> To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
> Subject: Re: [TLUG]: Questions for English Majors
> 
>> My understanding of it is that disc is british and disk is american.  I
>> personally use disc for spiral track media (usually optical) and disk
>> for circular track media (usually magnetic). 
>
> Interesting... I do kind of the same thing, except that I use 'disc' for CD 
> and DVD, and 'disk' for floppies, etc. In fact, I think the only times I use 
> 'disk' is specifically when referring to floppies.
>
> 'Disc', however, is the most correct if one follows the etymology of the word 
> from the latin root 'discus', which effectively translates to 'dish'. Though 
> german does have the word 'diskette', so perhaps that's one avenue as to how 
> 'disk' made it into english (which did start off as a german dialect).

      The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology says it comes from the
      French, disque, or _its_ source, the Latin discus.

      5.25" floppies were originally (at least they used to be) called
      floppy diskettes, which could be derived from disc (i.e., a small
      disc), with the 'c' changed to 'k' to preserve the hard
      sound. It's possible that diskette was then shortened to
      disk. Does anyone have any old American references (perhaps old
      stereo magazines; my collection from the early 70s disappeared in
      one of my moves) to see what whas used before computer disks
      became common?

-- 

         Chris F.A. Johnson                      http://cfaj.freeshell.org
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