Re: The Origin of "Key"?

[Steven Jong <SteveFJong -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

Funny you should ask about keys...

There I was, reading TECHWR-L, when I encountered a question on why keys on a
keyboard are called "keys." Suddenly I was falling into an infinite loop, as
if I were looking at picture of the little bear holding a Tommy Tippy cup on
the Tommy Tippy cup... But I regress.

Some memory neuron fired in response to this question, electrochemically
claiming that the computer keyboard is so named because of the terminal
keyboard, which is so named because of the typewriter keyboard, which is so
named because of the telegraph, whose moving part was called, my neuron
claims, a key.

This begs the question: why is (was) a telegraph key so called? This question,
in turn, recalls the question posed by a society matron of Samuel Johnson, the
first English lexicographer: "How did pigs get their name? Is it because
they're so dirty?" But I ingest.

Another long-term memory, possibly from the same neuron, says that telegraph
operators treated the keys as personal items. At the end of the day they
removed that moving part and put it in their pocket. Hence, they were called
keys.

It's also possible that the lineage traces back still further, to keyboard
instruments such as pianos, harpsichords, and spinnets. There I have no
memories. I can't even vouch for the ones I've relayed to you.

I don't know if this qualifies as useful information, original humor, or an
acid-induced spam. You make the call.

                -- Steve


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