automation English · revision 39529

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1874, Every Saturday}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˌɔː.təˈmeɪ.ʃən/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˌɔ.təˈmeɪ.ʃən/, /ˌɑː.təˈmeɪ.ʃən/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was formed in English from the stem of [[automatic]] and [[automaton]], with the suffix [[-ion]];^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) other dictionaries call it an irregular formation from ''automatic'' and [[-ation]]^(SOED 2002)^(ODE 2010) or, like Barnhart, a contraction of the phrase automatic operation.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Dictionary.com 2016) In its modern sense the coinage is usually credited to Delmar S. Harder, vice-president of manufacturing at the Ford Motor Company,^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) who in 1947 set up a group he called "automation engineers".^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As a synonym of [[automatism]], automatic action, from 1874 in the magazine ''Every Saturday'' until 1899, a sense now obsolete.^(OED 2026) The OED notes that 17th- and 18th-century examples of ''automation'' are probably misprints for ''automaton''.^(OED 2026) Merriam-Webster dates its first sense to 1912.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The modern sense, the introduction of automatic equipment into manufacturing or another process, appears in 1948 in the ''American Machinist'',^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and Etymonline notes that it is the large-scale, industrial counterpart of the older ''automatism''.^(Etymonline) The verb [[automate]] was made from it by back-formation in 1954.^(Barnhart 1988) The word now covers any system of control by electronic devices that does work once done by people,^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023) and also the degree to which a process is so controlled.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1874 – automatism (obsolete by 1899).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1912 – Merriam-Webster's first known use.^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1947 – Harder's "automation engineers" at Ford.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1948 – the use of automatic equipment in manufacturing.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1954 – the back-formation ''automate''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The use of [[machine|alt=machines]], [[computer|alt=computers]] and other automatic devices to run an industrial or other process with little human [[labour]]: ''Automation has cut the number of workers on the assembly line.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+ # The state of being operated automatically, or the extent to which a process is.^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[automate]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[automat]]

+ * [[automatic]]

+ * [[automatize]]

+ * [[automaton]]

+ * [[automatism]]

+ * [[cybernetics]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}