The story
From joy + stick. First attested around 1910 (as joy-stick) as the control stick on an airplane. Its relation to the word joy is unclear.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
joystick
joy·stickToday it means: A mechanical control device consisting of a handgrip mounted on a base or pedestal and typically having one or more buttons, used to control an aircraft, computer, or other equipment. Full definition →