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Revision as of 07:28, 28 March 2006 by Keycard (talk | contribs) (disambig)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The divergence in spelling of the word disk or disc is due in part to the way in which the words originated. Disk came into the English language in the mid-17th century, and following already-existing words like whisk or risk, it was spelled with a k; disc arose some time later, based on the Latin root discus. In the 19th century, disc became the conventional spelling for audio recordings made on a flat plate, such as the gramophone record; this usage gave rise to the modern term disc jockey. Early BBC technicians differentiated between disks (in-house transcription records) and discs (the colloquial term for commercial gramophone records, or what the BBC dubbed CGRs).
By the 20th century, the c-spelling was more popular in British English, while the k-spelling was preferred in American English. In the 1940s, when the American company IBM pioneered the first hard disk storage devices, the k-spelling was used. In 1979 the Dutch company Philips, along with Sony, developed the compact disc medium; here, the c-spelling was chosen, possibly because of the predominating British spelling, or because the compact disc was seen as a successor to the analogue disc record. One explanation is the fact that the spelling disc is acceptable to the French, just as Philips introduced the compact audio cassette in the 1960s under a French name, too.
Whatever their heritage, in computer jargon today it is common for the k-spelling to refer mainly to magnetic storage devices. The c-spelling is then used for optical media such as the compact disc and similar technologies (Apple Corporation considers this official). Even in the computing field, however, the terms are used inconsistently; software documentation often using one or the other spelling exclusively.
Outside of computer jargon, usage will generally follow local spelling patterns/preferences.