Masochism and Sadism

A female dominant with a male submissive at her feet,
 from Dresseuses d'Hommes (1931) by Belgian artist Luc Lafnet

These two words are eponyms. 

Masochism means to derive satisfaction from another’s pain. Chevalier Leopold von Sacher-Masoch was a 19-century Austrian journalist and writer. In 1869 he persuaded his mistress to serve as a slave for him for 6 months. 

He then used the experience to write the novella Venus in Furs. The novella described the degradation of the main character. 

It was so influential that in 1886, esteemed Austrian psychiatrist Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing coined the term ‘masochism’ to depict satisfaction from another’s pain.============

Sadism, or more properly sadomasochism, is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation.

Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. The terms sadist and masochist refer respectively to one who enjoys giving and receiving pain.

The abbreviation S&M is commonly used for Sadomasochism (or Sadism & Masochism), although the initialisms S-M, SM, or S/M are also used, particularly by practitioners. Sadomasochism is not considered a clinical paraphilia unless such practices lead to clinically significant distress or impairment for a diagnosis. Similarly, sexual sadism within the context of mutual consent, generally known under the heading BDSM, is distinguished from non-consensual acts of sexual violence or aggression.

The term "sadism" has its origin in the name of the Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), who not only practiced sexual sadism but also wrote novels about these practices, of which the best known is Justine. 

 

Shrapnel

Shrapnel is commonly the word given to pieces of a bullet, bomb or other explosives after they detonate.

The correct term for these pieces is "fragmentation"; "shards" or "splinters" can be used for non-preformed fragments. Though these pieces are often incorrectly referred to as "shrapnel", particularly by non-military media sources, you have no doubt heard the term used. 

Henry Shrapnel is not a person I admire. He spent decades devising ways to develop bombs and shells that caused the most damage when they exploded. The original "shrapnel shell" was named for Major General Henry Shrapnel of the British Royal Artillery. It predates the modern-day high-explosive shell and operates by an entirely different process. 

A shrapnel shell consists of a shell casing filled with steel or lead balls suspended in a resin matrix, with a small explosive charge at the base of the shell. When the projectile is fired, it travels a pre-set distance along a ballistic trajectory, then the fuse ignites a relatively weak secondary charge (often black powder or cordite) in the base of the shell. This charge fractures the matrix holding the balls in place and expels the nose of the shell to open a path for the balls, which are then propelled out of the front of the shell without rupturing the casing (which falls to earth relatively unharmed and can be retrieved and reused). These balls continue onward to the target, spreading out in a cone-shaped pattern at ground level, with most of their energy coming from the original velocity of the shell itself rather than the lesser force of the secondary charge that freed them from the shell. Since the cone of impact is relatively small, no more than 10 to 15 times the diameter of the shell, true shrapnel shells needed to be carefully sighted and judiciously used in order to maximize their impact on the enemy.

wikimedia.org, Public Domain, Link

Bauhaus. Bauhaus and Bauhaus

Composition 8 by Wassily Kandinsky / Guggenheim (Public domain)

BAUHAUS is a triple-play word for this site as it can be categorized here as the name of a band, the name of a style of graphic design, and a famous school of architecture. It has enough different usages to require a disambiguation page on Wikipedia.

Polyphony by Paul Klee 1932, Public Domain

The Bauhaus is a German artistic movement that lasted from 1919-1933. Its goal was to merge all artistic mediums into one unified approach. It combined an individual's artistry with mass production and function. 

Bauhaus design is often abstract, angular, and geometric, with little ornamentation. Bauhaus artists favored linear and geometrical forms, rather than floral or curvilinear shapes. There was a great interest in technology and Bauhaus workshops were used for developing prototypes of products for mass production. The artists embraced the new possibilities of modern technologies.

Bauhaus building in Dessau designed by Walter Gropius.
It was the longest-serving of the 3 Bauhaus locations (1925–1932)
  CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Now known as Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, this university located specializes in the artistic and technical fields. It was established in 1860 as the Great Ducal Saxon Art School, gained collegiate status in 1910 and in 1919 the school was renamed Bauhaus by its new director.

In 2019, the university celebrated the centenary of the founding of the Bauhaus, together with partners all over the world.

Bauhaus performing in 2006    CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

Bauhaus is an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978 known for its "gothic rock" and dark image and gloomy sound which also incorporated some glam rock, psychedelia, and funk. Members include Daniel Ash (guitar, saxophone), Peter Murphy (vocals, occasional instruments), Kevin Haskins (drums) and David J (bass).

The band formed under the name Bauhaus 1919. The date was a reference to the first operating year of the German art school Bauhaus, but they shortened this name within a year of formation. 

 

Leotard

Leotard - a close-fitting one-piece garment, made of a stretchy fabric, that covers a person's body from the shoulders to the top of the thighs - typically worn by dancers or people exercising indoors.

This is a word and a garment I not only associate with dancers, but also with an earlier time. I don't hear the word as much these days and perhaps that is a fashion thing or perhaps dance is not in my life much.

"Erika Fasana, 2010" by Alby.1412.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons.

The word sounds French, but in checking the origin I find that it is another example of an eponym. The garment is named after a French trapeze artist (not a dancer) named Jules Léotard (1839–70). 

The word and the garment as a fashion trend first appear in the early 20th century.

The leotard is still usually associated with girls and women participating in ballet and gymnastics.

Jules Léotard in the garment that bears his name - Link

Jules designed the one-piece garment so that there would be no loose clothing that could get in the way of his act or jeopardize his safety. His version was tight-fitting with long sleeves and it eventually came to be known by his name.

Leotards are now worn by acrobats, gymnasts, dancers, figure skaters, athletes, actors, wrestlers, and circus performers both as practice garments and performance costumes. 

sample leotard for ballet or gymnastics

They are often worn with ballet skirts on top and with tights or bike shorts as underwear. As a casual garment, a leotard can be worn with a belt, worn as a tight-fitting top with pants, overalls, or short skirts.

There are a plethora of leotards available for women and young girls for ballet, for gymnastics, and as "bodysuits" for everyday wear.

long-sleeved leotard

Chauvinist

Image: Gerd Altmann

Nobody likes a chauvinist. Chauvinism is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people. 

In English, the word has come to be used in some quarters as shorthand for male chauvinism. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary begins its first example of the use of the term chauvinism with "an attitude of superiority toward members of the opposite sex. But it can also be described as a form of extreme patriotism and nationalism.

The word is said to be an eponym dating back to the 1840s. Nicholas Chauvin was a French soldier who glorified Napoleon and exhibited extreme ultra-nationalism, viewing the French as superior to all others. Then again, I also found that Nicholas Chauvin may never have actually existed. he may have been a fictional character, invented to inspire patriotism.

Until the 20th century, the term “male chauvinism” had not been used to describe sexism — as in men believing they are superior to women. This is the definition that stuck, and the “male” part of the term was eventually dropped.

Female chauvinism is the belief that women are superior to men. Feminist Betty Friedan observed that "...the assumption that women have any moral or spiritual superiority as a class is [...] female chauvinism." In the book Female Chauvinist Pigs, it is argued that many young women in the United States and beyond are replicating male chauvinism and older misogynist stereotypes. 

Maverick

To call someone a maverick today means that you see them as an independent person who thinks differently, and the term applies to many professions and fields. It is generally considered to be a positive nickname but it might also apply to someone who doesn't follow the rules or norms of a field.   

The origin of this eponym is Samuel Maverick, a cattle rancher in Texas in the 19th century. At the time, the law was that all ranchers had to brand their cattle - but Maverick refused. 

The dictionary, in North America, will say that a maverick can also mean an unbranded calf, which makes sense. 

Maverick was also an American Western television series from 1957 - 1962. It was a comedic western originally starring James Garner as Bret Maverick, a poker player moving through the 19th-century American frontier. 

James Garner as Bret Maverick and Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, Link

Nicotine

Nicotine, the addictive alkaloid found in tobacco, is another of the many English eponyms of French origin. The formal name for the tobacco plant is the Latin Nicotiana tabacum, and it was named after Jean Nicot, the French ambassador to Portugal in the 1500s.

Jean Nicot de Villemain, a French diplomat and scholar became famous for being the first to bring tobacco to France, including snuff tobacco. He sent tobacco and seeds to Paris in 1560 and then presented it to the French King. He also promoted its medicinal use, since smoking was believed to protect against illness, particularly the plague.

The fashionable people of Paris began to use the plant, making Nicot a celebrity.

The plant was called Nicotina, but nicotine later came to refer specifically to the particular chemical in the plant.

Nicotiana tabacum, or cultivated tobacco, CC BY 2.5, Link

Why name the Americas "America?"

America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer. He is the man who set forth what was then considered to be a revolutionary concept: that the lands that Christopher Columbus sailed to in 1492 (but didn't actually land on) were part of a separate continent. 

A map created in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller was the first to depict this new continent with the name "America," a Latinized version of "Amerigo."

Detail of the Waldseemüller map showing the name "America."
The Library of Congress purchased of the only known extant copy of this map
for $10 million, thanks to the generosity of the U.S. Congress, Discovery Channel, Gerald Lenfest, David Koch and several other donors.

Waldseemüller's large world map included map data that had been gathered by Vespucci during his voyages of 1501-1502 to the New World. he named the new lands "America" on his 1507 map in the recognition of Vespucci's understanding that a new continent had been discovered.

See www.loc.gov/wiseguide/aug03/america.html

Pompadour

Madame Pompadour without a pompadour hairstyle, 1758)

The pompadour is a hairstyle. Not many people get a hairstyle named after them. In modern times, I can only think of the "Rachel" named for the Rachel Green character on TV's Friends and played by Jennifer Aniston. 

Back in the 18th century, Madame de Pompadour was a mistress to King Louis XV and his political advisor. The hairstyle is named for her, But the name for this hairstyle has nothing in common with the hairstyle of Madame de Pompadour. She wore her hair back rather than up, and without the extra volume on the top. The name for the hairstyle wasn't coined until after her time.

In the 1890s, the Gibson Girl look used the style. The 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, references Jay Gatsby as having had a pompadour in his youth. It came back in vogue for women again in the 1940s.

Betty Grable 1942     Link

The men's version appeared in the 1950s and early 1960s, worn by early country, rock and roll and movie stars such as Elvis Presley, Judy Garland, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, James Dean, and Tony Curtis. 

Elvis  1954   Link

It had a revival in the 2000s with celebrities including John Travolta in Grease, Justin Timberlake, David Beckham, Rihanna, Bruno Mars and others.

Silhouette

18th-century silhouette portrait

A silhouette is the image of a person, animal, object, or scene represented as a solid shape of a single color, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhouette is usually presented on a light background, usually white, or none at all. 

The word silhouette is derived from the name of Étienne de Silhouette, a French finance minister. In 1759, he was forced by France's credit crisis to impose severe economic demands upon the French people, particularly the wealthy. His austere economies caused his name to be attached with anything done or made cheaply.

These outline portraits were popular prior to the advent of photography. They were cut from black cards and were the cheapest way of recording a person's appearance. 

Apparently,  Étienne de Silhouette enjoyed making such drawings and used them to decorate his chateau.

Modern silhouette of Johannesburg skyline - CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Decibel

A decibel (dB) is a unit of measurement that came from the need to describe the efficiency of telephone circuits. It would replace "transmission units" which were from the telegraph days. It was decided that they wanted to use a name that connected to the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell and created the unit of a "bel." The bel is seldom used, as the decibel was the proposed working unit.  "Deci" denote one-tenth of the "bel" measurement. The new measurement was proposed in 1924 by the Bell Telephone Laboratories. 

In a non-technical sense, most people just think of a decibel as a way to measure the loudness of a sound. Breathing is 10 decibels; conversations in a restaurant is about 60; a motorcycle at 25 ft is 90 dB; live rock music is about 108 - 114 dB.

Bell at the opening of the long-distance line from New York to Chicago, 1892 Link

bloomers and cardigans

The term "bloomers" to mean an article of women’s clothing isn't used much these days. Amelia Bloomer was a 19-century Women’s Rights activist.

She ran a newspaper, Lily , that changed the way women viewed themselves and encouraged women to stand up for their rights which included and included radical dress reform.  

In those days, women wore restrictive corsets and dresses fitted with huge skirts and Amelia championed a new style of clothing for women. The baggy trousers known as pantaloons was a style she campaigned for and they became known as "bloomers."

"Bloomer" dress of the 1850s

The knitted garment known as the cardigan is still used today. Cardigans are open-fronted sweaters with variations. Most have buttons but there are ones that are tied and worn like a robe. There are also ones with zippers and newer fashion trend with no buttons or zipper and hanging open.

The clothing word originates from James Brudenell, an Earl and military hero who fought in the Crimean War and led the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava in 1854. Fighting in a harsh Russian winter, Brudenell used his own money to get his soldiers knitted woolen waistcoats. 

So shouldn't they be called "brudenells?"  Not a very catchy name. But he was the Earl of Cardigan, so that was what they became known as in that time and still today. 

Cardigan CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

It Is Eponyms Week: Dunce and Boycott

Eponyms can be a discovery, invention, place, etc., that is named (or thought to be named) after a person. It is a mid-19th century word coming from the Greek epōnumos (given as a name, or giving one's name to someone or something) from epi  "upon" + onoma "name."

I have written about a number of examples of eponyms before and this week we'll add a few more.

Don’t feel like a dunce for not knowing that this word is an eponym. I didn't know until recently. Oddly enough, it is named after a very intelligent man. John Duns Scotus was a philosopher, linguist and theologian in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. His metaphysical teachings lived on with followers who long after his death were known as Dunsmen or Duns.

During the Renaissance, the Duns were considered a kind of crazy group and Duns Scotus' teachings fell out of favor. They often wore pointed hats because Scotus thought the hats could be a funnel for knowledge. The hats, and the Duns themselves, became representative of idiocy, and soon the terms “dunce” and “dunce cap” were used to describe any fools or misbehaving children.

I also would not have thought that the verb boycott (meaning to abstain from using, as in "boycotting a product or company") came from a person's name. Charles Boycott (like Duns Scotus) would not be thrilled to see his name live on in the current usage. He was an unscrupulous landlord in the late 19th century. He was known for charging exorbitant rents to his tenant farmers and evicting them if they couldn’t pay. As a result, people avoided renting from him. Boycott was boycotted!

Draconian

Draco the Lawgiver carving in the library of
the United States Supreme Court (Wikimedia)

Recently, I have been seeing "Draconian" used in the news to describe things like the measures being taken in Italy and other countries due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). The adjective is used when laws or their application are considered excessively harsh and severe.

Is there a Draco that makes things Draconian? My sons might say is it for Draco Malfoy, a character in the Harry Potter series of books and movies? No. Is it connected to Draco, a constellation in the northern part of the sky or the dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way? No and no, but there is a connection for all of them and that connection is the man Draco who lived in the 7th century BC.

He was also called Drako or Drakon and was the first recorded legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece. He replaced the prevailing system of oral law and blood feud with a written code to be enforced only by a court of law.

But Draco established laws characterized by their harshness and since the 19th century "draconian" became an adjective referring to similarly unforgiving rules or laws.

Atlas

Frontispiece of the 1595 Atlas by Mercator

Gerardus Mercator was a 16th-century German-Flemish geographer, cosmographer and cartographer. He is most renowned for creating his 1569 world map based on a new projection which we now refer to as the "Mercator Projection." He was one of the pioneers of cartography and in his time was also known as a maker of globes and scientific instruments.

His early maps were in large formats suitable for wall mounting. In the second half of his life, he produced over 100 new regional maps in a smaller format suitable for binding into a book.

He called that book of maps his Atlas of 1595. This was the first appearance of the word "atlas" in reference to a book of maps. He chose "atlas" as a commemoration of the Greek mythological Titan named Atlas, "King of Mauretania", whom he considered to be the first great geographer. In Greek mythology, the Titans were the pre-Olympian gods.

Mercator published his Atlas Sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura. (Atlas or cosmographical meditations upon the creation of the universe, and the universe as created.) with this title that provides Mercator's definition of the word as a description of the creation and form of the whole universe, not simply as a collection of maps.

It was published posthumously one year after his death as this quite wide-ranging text. But in later editions, it was reduced to simply a collection of Earth maps and that is the sense that the word was used from the middle of the 17th century through today.

Mercator may have appreciated the broader meaning used today for the website and print version that is called the Atlas Obscura - though he would have wanted them to go beyond Earth.

         

Bodoni

Most people don't think about the font or typeface that they are reading. If this post suddenly changed to Georgia or to Helvetica, you might notice. And most people don't know the names of the designers of the typeface, although some carry the designer's name. 

The printer Giambattista Bodoni was born in Saluzzo, Italy in 1740. He came from a family of engravers, and by the time he died, he had opened his own publishing house that reprinted classical texts.

He personally designed almost 300 typefaces, but he is remembered today for the typeface that bears his name and has been used in four centuries. Bodoni is still available on almost any word processing program. Many people consider it to be one of the most elegant typefaces. It is most commonly used in headings and display uses and in better magazines done on high-gloss paper that allows for fine strokes.

To a modern audience, Bodoni is best known as the name of a typeface, but he was an expert printer who ran a prestigious printing-office under the patronage of the Duke of Parma. His company's work in metal-casting of the type, printing and of the paper made in Parma were all known to be of very high quality. The smooth finish of the paper allowed fine detail to be retained.


A version of this post appeared earlier at One-Page Schoolhouse

Measuring natural disasters

September 2017 was a month of natural disasters - hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes. Two terms you may have heard used are examples of eponyms.

Charles F. Richter (1900–1985) was an American seismologist and physicist who came up with the earthquake-measuring scale in 1935 that bears his name. It has lost some of its prevalence as scientists have replaced it with other, more precise systems.

The most dangerous tornadoes are classified as EF5. Tetsuya “Ted” Fujita (1920–1998) id the "F" in that measurement system. He was a Japanese-born storm researcher who created a system for classifying tornadic destructiveness. As with the Richter scale, a newer refined Enhanced Fujita scale has been adopted. Fujita also contributed to hurricane and thunderstorm analysis.

Measuring Energy

One of the biggest honors a scientist can receive is to have his or her name attached to their invention or discovery. These new words are known as eponyms, and here are some eponyms we have for the measurement of energy.

James Prescott Joule (1818–1889) gave us the joule, a unit that measures work, or energy (a force acting over distance. He was a British physicist who established that all forms of energy are equivalent.

Joule also developed thermodynamics, along with Lord Kelvin who is better known because absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in his honor. While the existence of a lower limit to temperature (absolute zero) was known prior to his work, Lord Kelvin is widely known for determining its correct value as approximately −273.15 degree Celsius or −459.67 degree Fahrenheit.

Our common energy measurement of volts comes from Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). This unit measures differences in electrical potential. The Italian physicist Volta also discovered methane and  used his tongue to detect electricity and invented the first electric battery.

Another major electrical unit, the current-measuring ampere, takes its name from French physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836) who was one of the main founders of the science of electromagnetism, which he called “electrodynamics.”

measuring temperature

One way to gain some immortality is by having something named for you. Unfortunately, not every geographic, invention, species or other item that is an eponym is known for the person behind the name. A good example are some words we use to measure temperatures.

In the United States and a few other countries we measure the temperature inside and outside in Fahrenheit. But it would be unusual for an American to know that it was Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
(1686–1736), a Dutch physicist is be the source of that measurement. It was the first standardized temperature scale to be widely used. Mr. Fahrenheit also the invented alcohol and mercury thermometers that most of us have used (pre-digital). In his temperature scale, 0 degrees marks the temperature of a 1:1 mix of ice and salt.

Most of the world measures temperature using the scale created by Anders Celsius (1701–1744). He was a Swedish astronomer and professor at Uppsala University. His Celsius (also called centigrade) temperature scale marks 0 degrees as the temperature at which water freezes, and 100 as when it boils.

Americans traveling outside their homeland are always baffled at readings in Celsius. To convert temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit to Celsius, you can subtract 32 and multiply by .5556 (or 5/9).
Example: (50°F - 32) x .5556 = 10°C. But that is tough math for most of us without a calculator. Nowadays, people are more likely to ask their phone to do it for them. "Siri, what is the current temperature in celsius?"  AS I am typing this, my thermometer says 78 degrees, and Siri tells me it is 26 Celsius.

William Thomson (1st Baron Kelvin and popularly known as Lord Kelvin) was a Scots-Irish mathematical physicist and engineer. He was born in Belfast in 1824. His work at the University of Glasgow in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics helped unify the emerging discipline of physics in its modern form. His work on the transatlantic telegraph project gained him a knighthood, so he was also Sir William Thomson.

But it is for his work on absolute temperatures that units of kelvin were named for him. The lower limit to temperature (absolute zero) was known prior to his work, but Thomson determined its correct value as approximately −273.15 degree Celsius or −459.67 degree Fahrenheit and gave us our third temperature scale. In this scale, 0 is equivalent to absolute zero, the theoretical coldest temperature possible. It isn’t measured by degrees, but by individual kelvins.

Red Cubanelle chili peppers

American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville gave us another kind of "temperature" measurement. This one won't show up on a thermometer but on your tongue, and it matters when you are eating foods with hot peppers. Scoville Heat Units (SHU) are used to measure the "heat" of Capsicum.

He devised the test and scale in 1912 while working at the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company to measure pungency, "spiciness" or "heat", of various chili peppers.

The common sweet bell pepper is measured at 0 Scovilles, so it is very mild. The world's most popular chili pepper is the jalapeno chili pepper which is measured at 2,500 - 8,000 Scovilles. A chipotle is a smoked jalapeno chili pepper. The serrano pepper can range from 5,000 - 23,000 Scovilles. This smaller version of the jalapeno can be dark green to reddish in color.

Chili peppers vary in heat based on their cultivation and harvesting. The New Mexico Scorpion is a super-hot chile rated at 1,191,595 Scoville Heat Units by an independent laboratory. And the Naga Viper (capsicum chinense) has been rated at 1,382,118 SHU, according to tests conducted by the Warwick HRI Mineral Analysis Laboratory, UK.

But, according to chilipeppermadness.com, the Carolina Reaper has a Guinness-submitted 1,569,383 SHU and more recently measured peak levels of over 2,200,000 SHU to top the super-hot chili charts.

Macintosh - an apple, a raincoat and a computer

In 1823, a Scottish chemist named Charles Macintosh sold the first raincoat.

He had been trying to find uses for the waste products of gasworks. He discovered that a substance called coal-tar naphtha dissolved India rubber and allowed the melted rubber to bond to wool. That created a waterproof fabric.

These first raincoats unfortunately smelled like coal tar and rubber. They also were stiff in cold weather, and gummed up in hot weather, but they found a market. Farmers, fishermen, and firemen were early fans.

The coats were so popular in Great Britain that people said “Mac” or a “Mack” when they meant the generic raincoat, even if it wasn't actually a Mackintosh. The Mac or Mac-style raincoats are still made today.

Another eponym story is that of the the McIntosh apple variety. Popularly known as a Mac, this apple cultivar is the national apple of Canada.

The fruit has red and green skin, a tart flavour, and tender white flesh, which ripens in late September. It is considered an all-purpose apple, suitable both for cooking and eating raw.

John McIntosh discovered the original McIntosh sapling on his Dundela farm in Upper Canada in 1811. He and his wife bred it, and the family started grafting the tree and selling the fruit in 1835.

Once one of the most common and popular of apples in North America, the fruit's popularity has fallen the past few decades, but U.S. Apple Association website says it is still one of the fifteen most popular apple cultivars in the United States.

Speaking of apples, Apple Inc. Macintosh computer has been with us since 1984. It has been branded as the "Mac" since 1998, though the Mac name was popularized by users almost as soon as it was introduced.

This series of personal computers was the company's first mass-market personal computer featuring an integral graphical user interface and mouse

Apple Inc. employee Jef Raskin is credited with conceiving and starting the Macintosh project for Apple in the late 1970s and for selecting that variety of apple as the name for the new computer line that followed the Apple IIe computer.