Comments by "EebstertheGreat" (@EebstertheGreat) on "Emile Berliner's Fix: Flatten the Cylinder to a Disc" video.

  1. I just learned that Victrola units like the one shown here are the origin of the modern technological meaning of "console." The earliest use of the term was for brackets.* It was later applied to wall-mounted tables or bases for ornaments, then later for free-standing structures, especially cabinets. From there it took on the meaning of the large body of an organ (which is usually concealed in some sort of cabinet), and then also talking machines as shown here. The Online Etymology Dictionary dates the use for "radio cabinet" to 1925 in the same sense, and from there TV cabinets and so on. The word for any console at a generator or in Star Trek or whatever dates back to these cabinets. I don't know though why video games seem to have reversed the trend, with arcade cabinets specifically set apart from home consoles. Video game consoles have never been commonly built into cabinets. I can't find a clear answer on that. It might be unrelated, I suppose. * This comes from the French noun console with the same meaning. It's origin is unknown, but it's probably related to the verb consoler meaning "to comfort, console" via some forgotten route.
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