> "data base" was a term in use predating that 1963 publication
I agree, and actually reading through some of it only reinforces the feeling. I suppose the real answer could well still be CLASSIFIED, if it was even recorded in the first place.
I agree, and actually reading through some of it only reinforces the feeling. I suppose the real answer could well still be CLASSIFIED, if it was even recorded in the first place.
The term "base" used with data would correlate well with the military term for "base" and perhaps adds some color to its original context.
Perhaps a "data base" originated as "A safe refuge of facts from which you would learn, train, and launch a defense or an attack?"
Or perhaps its a "base" (basis) of facts from which you operate in a military operation?
Or perhaps someone else non-military used the term first but it picked up early resonance in the military community due to its additional connotations for them or their management?
Anyway, TIL. I wonder whether a FOIA request to NSA or DoD would turn up anything.
Actually, Oxford English Dictionary says: "OED's earliest evidence for [the term] database is from 1953, in Sociometry."
(Source: https://www.oed.com/dictionary/database_n#:~:text=Where%20do....)
(Perhaps this Sociometry? : https://www.jstor.org/stable/i329357 ?)
See also Rich Hickey's definition of "basis". I bet he spent a good while digging into the etymology.