console

console · noun¹

1. French · borrowed fromconsole“bracket”
2. English todayconsole

Borrowed from French console (“bracket”, noun), from consoler (“to console, to comfort”, verb). Sense of “bracket” either due to a bracket alleviating the load, or due to brackets being decorated with the Christian figure of a consolateur (“consoler”), itself perhaps a pun on the first sense (alleviating load). Originally used for the bracket itself, then for wall-mounted tables (mounted with a bracket), then for free-standing tables placed against a wall. Use for control system dates at least to 1880s for an “organ console”; use for electrical or electronic control systems dates at least to 1930s in radio, television, and system control, particularly as “mixer console” or “control console”, attached to an equipment rack. This was popularized in computers by mainframes such as the IBM 704 (1954) in terms such as “operator’s console” or “console typewriter”, and then generalized to any attached equipment, particularly for user interaction. The automotive sense harks back to earlier use as “support”.

console · verb²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*selh₂-“mercy, comfort”
2. Latin · derived fromcōnsōlor“to console, offer solace”
3. French · borrowed fromconsoler
4. English todayconsole

Borrowed from French consoler, from Latin cōnsōlor (“to console, offer solace”), root from Proto-Indo-European *selh₂- (“mercy, comfort”) (whence also solace).

Words from the same roots