“Internet-related prefixes”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Cyber- is derived from "cybernetic", which comes from the Greek word κυβερνητικός meaning skilled in steering or governing. It is mainly used in the terms cyberspace, cyberlaw, cyberbullying, cybercrime, cyberwarfare, cyberterrorism, cybersex, and cyberdelic among others. Although it is more commonly used to describe policies and politics regarding computer systems and networks (as in the above cases), it is also widely used by many information technology industries. Cyber is now considered as a recent term in the internet era.

"E-"

The lowercase initial e prefix was used as early as 1994 by eWorld, Apple's online service.

"i"

The i prefix was used as early as 1994 by iVillage, an internet community site by and for women.^[4] More recent examples include the BBC's iPlayer, and Google's former iGoogle service. It has even been used by companies not in the IT sector for their websites, such as Coca-Cola's now-defunct icoke.com.

Promotional materials for the 2004 film I, Robot, inspired by Isaac Asimov's short-story collection of the same name, utilized a lowercase i as a cultural reference to the rising popularity at that time of the prefix in product names.^[7]

"Virtual"

The word virtual 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 terms virtual reality, virtual world, and virtual sex.

Linguistic behaviour

These prefixes are productive. Michael Quinion notes that most of these formations are nonce words that will never be seen again. He writes that new terms such as "e-health" are unneeded; in this case telemedicine already exists to describe the application of telecommunications to medicine. He similarly points out the redundancy of e-tail, e-commerce, and e-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]

Spelling controversies

There is some confusion over whether these prefixes should be hyphenated and/or in upper case. In the case of e-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 Smith prescribed that the e- 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]

History

The term 'cybernetics' was used in Norbert Wiener's book Cybernetics 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 ABPC The Avengers television series introduced artificial humanoids called Cybernauts. In 1966, the BBC Doctor Who serial The Tenth Planet introduced a monster called cybermen.

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' and laissez faire are anachronisms in this age of CYBERNATION."

By the 1970s, the Control Data Corporation (CDC) sold the "Cyber" range of supercomputers, establishing the word cyber- as synonymous with computing. Robert Trappl credits William Gibson and his novel Neuromancer with triggering a "cyber- prefix flood" in the 1980s.^[11]

McFedries observes that a backlash against the use of e- and cyber- 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 to e- and calling cyber- "terminally overused".^[2]^[12]

References

1. ^¹{{cite book|isbn=7-302-09576-0|title=Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology|author=Joseph Straubhaar and Robert LaRose|publisher=Thomson Learning|page=6|year=2004}}
2. ^¹{{cite news|work=IEEE Spectrum|title=The (Pre) Fix Is In|date=2004-07-30|url=http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/aug04/3839|author=Paul McFedries}}
3. ^¹²{{cite web|author=Michael Quinion|title=THE E- netcsPREFIX |work=World Wide Words|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-eaa1.htm|date=1999-01-16}}
4. ^{{cite web|title=The Most Influential Women in Technology 2010 - Tina Sharkey|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/3017221/women-in-tech-2010/vthe-most-influential-women-in-technology-2010-tina-sharkey|publisher=Fast Company|accessdate=11 December 2013}}
5. ^Vaughn, Paul, "The Mac Guy: Potential buyer wants big sound, and he can have it," April 21, 2007 at mysanantonio.com
6. ^Manjoo, Farhad, [https://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2002/04/52181 "Grads Want to Study on EMacs, Too,"] April 30, 2002, [https://www.wired.com/ wired.com]
7. ^{{IMDb title|0343818|I, Robot}}
8. ^{{cite book|title=Young Writers Guide|author=Rodney Martin|year=2004|publisher=Era Publications|isbn=1-74120-040-7|page=150}}
9. ^¹{{cite web|title=AP Removes Hyphen From 'Email' In Style Guide|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/ap-removes-hyphen-from-em_n_837833.html|website=TheHuffingtonPost.com|publisher=TheHuffingtonPost.com|accessdate=2 May 2015}}
10. ^{{cite book|title=Becoming a Public Relations Writer: A Writing Process Workbook for the Profession|author=Ronald D. Smith|year=2003|publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates|isbn=0-8058-4260-8|page=402}}
11. ^{{cite conference|url=http://www.osgk.ac.at/emcsr/00/preface98.html|booktitle=14th European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research (EMCSR'98), April 14 — 17, 1998 at the University of Vienna|date=February 1998|title=Preface|author=Robert Trappl|publisher=Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies|isbn=3 85206 139 3}}
12. ^{{cite book|author=Constance Hale and Jessie Scanlon|title=Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age|location=New York|publisher=Broadway Books|year=1999}}

Cyber-, e-, i, and virtual

"Cyber-"