English
Unix
Unix comes from English Multics.
- English1500–presentMultics
- EnglishtodayUnix
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- English1500–presentMultics
- EnglishtodayUnix
A compound of multiplexed + information + computing + service
Latin multiplex ‘having many folds’
English multiplexed
Ancient Greek μορφή ‘shape, form’
Latin fōrma
Latin fōrmō ‘to shape, form, fashion, format’
Latin īnfōrmō ‘to form, mould, fashion, give shape to’
Late Latin īnfōrmātiō
Middle English enformacioun ‘Informing’
English information
Latin putus
Latin putō ‘to clean, cleanse’
Latin computō ‘to calculate, compute, reckon together’
Latin computāre
French computer ‘to compute’
English computing
Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to flow’
Proto-Italic *serwos ‘guardian?’
Latin servus ‘a slave’
Latin servitium ‘slavery, servitude’
Old French servise ‘service’
Old English serfis ‘service’
Middle English servise ‘the state of being employed’
English service
The story
A pun on Multics to sound like eunuchs, as Unix was considered to be an emasculated Multics (see multi- and uni-). Likely coined by Canadian computer scientist Brian Kernighan in 1970.
Every English word from English Multics
Today it means
name An operating system that shares the original source code by Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / English Multics / Unix