blog

Where does the word "blog" come from? It comes from English log, passing through American English before entering English (1999).

Blog’s story begins in English: log meant “ship's record.” Sailors measured speed with a wooden log on a knotted line, and recorded it in the 'log-book', giving 'log' as a daily record. By 1997, the word had taken hold in American English as weblog. Jorn Barger coined it in December 1997 for his site Robot Wisdom, a daily log of links from the World Wide Web. It reached English by 1999 as blog. Peter Merholz jokingly split 'weblog' into 'we blog' on his site in 1999, and Blogger launched that August. Today, blog means a regularly updated website written in an informal or conversational style.

1. Stage 1 · English · 1500s log "ship's record", sailors measured speed with a wooden log on a knotted line, and recorded it in the 'log-book', giving 'log' as a daily record.
2. Stage 2 · American English · 1997 weblog "web journal", Jorn Barger coined it in December 1997 for his site Robot Wisdom, a daily log of links from the World Wide Web.
3. Stage 3 · American English · 1999 blog "online journal", Peter Merholz jokingly split 'weblog' into 'we blog' on his site in 1999, and Blogger launched that August.