Internet-relatedprefixes such ase-,i-,cyber-,info-,techno- andnet- are added to a wide range of existing words to describe new,Internet- orcomputer-related flavors of existing concepts, often electronic products and services that already have a non-electronic counterpart. The adjectivevirtual is often used in a similar manner.[1][2]
Cyber- is derived from "cybernetic", from the Greek κυβερνητικός 'steersman'. Examples:cyberspace,cyberlaw,cyberbullying,cybercrime,cyberwarfare,cyberterrorism,cybersex, andcyberdelic. It is commonly used for policies and politics regarding computer systems and networks (as in the above cases), but also for information technology products and services. Further examples:
E-, standing forelectronic, is used in the termse-mail,e-commerce,e-business,e-banking,e-sports,e-paper,e-cigarette,e-car,e-girl,e-reservation, ande-book.[1][3]
The lowercase initiale prefix was used as early as 1994 byeWorld,Apple's online service.
i-, standing for internet, was used as early as 1994 byiVillage, an internet community site by and for women.[4] More recent examples include theBBC'siPlayer, andGoogle's formeriGoogle service. It has even been used by companies not in the IT sector for their websites, such asCoca-Cola's now-defunct icoke.com.
Apple Inc. is especially connected to thei- prefix. They first employed it for theiMac line of computers starting in 1998,[5] and have since used it in many of their other product names, includingiCal, iSync, iChat, iBook, iDVD, iLife,iMessage,iPod (and iPod Socks), iSight,iPhone,iWeb,iTunes,iCloud, and others. They have said it stands for "Internet".[6]
Promotional materials for the 2004 filmI, Robot, inspired byIsaac Asimov's short-story collectionof the same name, utilized a lowercasei as a cultural reference to the rising popularity at that time of the prefix in product names.[7]
The letter "i" was also used in the popularNickelodeon showiCarly, as that show primarily uses the internet as its main theme, and to parodize the fact thatApple uses "i-" in almost all its products.[citation needed]
The wordvirtual is used in a similar way to the prefixes above, but it is an adjective instead of a prefix. For example, it is used in the termsvirtual reality,virtual world, andvirtual sex.
These prefixes areproductive. Michael Quinion notes that most of these formations arenonce words that will never be seen again. He writes that new terms such as "e-health" are unneeded; in this casetelemedicine already exists to describe the application oftelecommunications tomedicine. He similarly points out the redundancy ofe-tail,e-commerce, ande-business.[3] Martin likewise characterizes many of these words as "fad words" and believes many will disappear once the technology that resulted in their coinage becomes better accepted and understood. For example, he writes, "when using computers becomes the standard way to do business, there will be no need to call it 'e-business' — it may be just 'business.'"[8]
There is some confusion over whether these prefixes should behyphenated and/or inupper case. In the case ofe-mail, it was originally hyphenated and lowercase in general usage, but the hyphen is no longer common.[9]
In 1999, Michael Quinion attributed the forms "email", "E-mail" and "Email" to uncertainty on the parts of newer Internet users.[3] In 2003, Ronald Smithprescribed that thee- should always be lowercase and hyphenated.[10] In 2013, the Associated Press Stylebook removed the hyphen from "e-mail", following the general usage of the word.[9]
The term 'cybernetics' was used inNorbert Wiener's bookCybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (MIT Press, 1948). Wiener used the term in reference to the control of complex systems in the animal world and in mechanical networks, in particular self-regulating control systems. By 1960, doctors were performing research into surgically or mechanically augmenting humans or animals to operate machinery in space, leading to the coining of the term "cyborg", for "cybernetic organism".
In 1965, the ABPCThe Avengers television series introduced artificial humanoids calledCybernauts. In 1966, the BBCDoctor Who serialThe Tenth Planet introduced a monster calledcybermen.
Fred J Cook (Winner of the 1961 Hillman Award) in his 1966 book "The Corrupted Land : The Social Morality of Modern America" introduces his book with "such ideals as free enterprise, 'rugged individualism' andlaissez faire are anachronisms in this age of CYBERNATION."
By the 1970s, theControl Data Corporation (CDC) sold the "Cyber" range of supercomputers, establishing the wordcyber- as synonymous with computing.Robert Trappl creditsWilliam Gibson and his novelNeuromancer with triggering a "cyber- prefix flood" in the 1980s.[11]
McFedries observes that a backlash against the use ofe- andcyber- can be traced to the late 1990s, quoting Hale and Scanlon requesting writers in 1999 to "resist the urge to use this vowel-as-cliché" when it comes toe- and callingcyber- "terminally overused".[2][12]
A comparable usage from outside the English language is the Japanese prefixdenki (電気), meaning electricity, which was used in Meiji-era Japan to denote products exhibiting a Western sensibility.[13]
電気がめずらしい明治の頃、目新しいものというと"電気○○○"などと呼ばれ、舶来のハイカラ品と人々の関心を集めていました [In the Meiji era, when electricity was uncommon, the word for electricity (denki) was used as a prefix for new products to give them a stylish, imported feel.]
