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Path: utzoo!linus!wanginst!marcus
From: marcus@wanginst.UUCP (Bob Marcus)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Searching for a word
Message-ID: <1668@wanginst.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Feb-86 09:12:20 EST
Article-I.D.: wanginst.1668
Posted: Thu Feb 13 09:12:20 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Feb-86 07:33:20 EST
References: <361@uw-june>
Reply-To: marcus@wanginst.UUCP (Bob Marcus)
Organization: Wang Institute, Tyngsboro, Ma.  01879
Lines: 21
Keywords: acronym
Summary: 

In article <361@uw-june> pablo@uw-june (David Cohn) writes:
>Here lies my question: I need, in order to efficiently answer the questions
>of others, the word that is the antonym of 'acronym'. Maybe 'the expansion
>of', but that doesn't sound right. I've been using the term 'anacronym'
>(pronounced like 'anachronism' with the 's' dropped). For example,
>"International Business Machines (tm) is the anacronym of IBM (also tm)".
>
First of all, IBM isn't really an acronym, but merely an abbreviation.  An
acronym is "a word formed from the initial letters of words in a phrase."
For example, laser is an acronym, formed from "(l)ight (a)mplification by
(s)timulated (e)mission of (r)adiation."

Perhaps "protonym" is a good choice for the phrase from which an acronym is
derived.  "Proto-" is the Greek root for "original; earliest form of," as
in "prototype".  Thus the protonym of "scuba" is "self-contained underwater
breathing apparatus".

-- 
Bob Marcus                               marcus@wanginst        (Csnet)
Wang Institute of Graduate Studies       wanginst!marcus        (UUCP)
Tyng Road, Tyngsboro, MA 01879           (617) 649-9731