Multics

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An early time-sharing operating system developed at MIT in the 1960s that allowed many users to work on one computer at once
2. A pioneering multi-user computer operating system created in the 1960s by MIT and its partners, influential on later Unix design
3. The name of a 1960s time-sharing operating system from MIT, notable for concepts such as hierarchical file systems and dynamic linking

Etymology: Multics is an acronym, and the source spells out what it stands for: Multiplexed Information and Computing Service. Each part of that name carries its own older history. "Multiplexed" comes from Latin "multiplex," meaning "many-fold," built from "multi-" and "plex," the root of "plicare," "to fold." "Information" traces back through Middle English and Old French to Latin "informatio," a shaping or giving form to something, from "informare," which combines "in-" with "forma," meaning shape. "Computing" grows from Latin "computare," to reckon together, and "service" descends from Latin "servitium," slavery or servitude, through Old French and Old English. The system itself lets many users share one computer at the same time, each apparently having it to themselves. The name is a fitting compression of that idea: many people folded into one machine, shaping and reckoning together, in service to them.