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January 09, 2006
"Disk" vs "Disc" continued and completed
In August I noted that Apple had published a Knowledge Base article on the difference between a "disk" and a "disc:" "disc" refers to optical media, and "disk" magnetic. I wondered why, and today someone has provided an answer via a comment:
The spelling is most likely due to the fact that Compact Discs were invented by a task force led by Philips (a European company), whereas hard disks were developed by IBM (an American company, naturally).
Investigating further, I find:
In British English disc is the usual spelling, but American English uses disk, and disk is also more common in computing, as in disk drive. [Tiscali.reference]
Now I will rest easier at night, knowing that this momentous mystery has finally been resolved.
January 9, 2006 | Permalink
Comments
I think "disk" originally arose because it was short for diskette, which is the full name of those floppy disks we used to use. Wikipedia says it was called a "diskette" to make it sound like "cassette." The distinction between optical and magnetic media arose later much later.
Random House says "disk and disc both come to English from the French disque (spelled with a -que, no less!) so there is no etymological reason to prefer one or the other."
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000727
Posted by: Ryan Walters at Jan 11, 2006 11:48:09 AM
I'm with Random House in thinking that the actual distinction is round vs. rectangular, not optical vs. magnetic. It just happens that magnetic media is all encased in rectangular cassettes.
Posted by: Ryan Walters at Jan 11, 2006 11:52:48 AM
Acc. to several sources, "disc" comes from the Latin "discus".
The Free Disctionary then goes further to say that the Latin "discus" comes from the Greek word "diskos".
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disk
The Free Dictionary gets its definition from American Heritage Dictionary.
That would mean that the use of a "k" has very long roots and did not begin recently, although the argument that magnetic media is of US origin and therefore carries the "k" seems compelling to me at least.
I think that French probably derived its word from Latin.
Posted by: William /TuneTree at Feb 23, 2006 6:54:57 AM
I always had this distinction feature in mind: All these media devices we are talking about have discs in them but if they are encased, like in a floppy disk, they are called disks.
Posted by: Markus at May 29, 2006 7:37:46 AM
... reason for this might be, that if the media has a case which is normally not circular but a square or rectangular format – hence it’s not a disc but a disk!
Posted by: Markus at May 29, 2006 7:41:37 AM
Hello:
Yes, the spelling is derived from the place of origin. However, proper spelling has been formalized, as per The American Psychological Association Style Manual for academic writing (APA). Disc is reserved for 'optical media' compact disc or DVD etc. Disk is reserved for rewritable media such as floppy disk or hard disk.
Hope this helps!
Posted by: Michael Sweet at Jul 5, 2006 12:55:07 PM
i've always understood 'disk' to be a re-writable storage format, as in a hard disk, while disc meant a non-re-writable format, as in laser discs, CDs or DVDs (in their early non-rewritable forms)
Posted by: Chris at Aug 11, 2006 9:41:31 AM
