Brave New Words

Everyone knows that William Gibson coined the word “cyberspace” in his 1982 story, “Burning Chrome,” and his seminal novel, Neuromancer (1984). Neuromancer also included the first use of the term “matrix” to refer to a global information network. But, do you know when the word “galactic” was first used in science fiction literature? In a story called “Asylum” in the May 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, A.E. van Vogt, one of the most popular and highly esteemed science fiction writers of the 1940s, wrote:

“There are no Galactics out here. But there is an Observer. I've been catching the secret ultra signals for the last two hours […] warning all ships to stay clear because the system isn't ready for any kind of contact with Galactic planets.”

Gems like this can be found in Brave New Words, the first historical dictionary devoted to science fiction. With full citations (some going back to the Renaissance), etymologies, and bibliographic information, Brave New Words is a storehouse of information on words coined and passed along by the genre's most talented writers. Many of the words have become part of the vocabulary of everyday language or have been moved into subcultures like computers or environmentalism.

Interestingly, BNW is based in part on citations collected at Science Fiction Citations, which fits in perfectly with the current trend of user-contributed, wiki-type collaborations.