Thanks to all who contributed their thoughts to this thread!
Jostein,
I suspect your hypothesis might not be correct.
I haven't checked etimological dictionaries, but from my knowledge
of etimology (self-studied) I would expect polarizer/polariser to be
derived from the verb "to polarize" (Amer.) "to polarise" (Brit.).
The word exists outside of optics as well (even though the verb "to
polarise" seems to be first used in optics). Some mechanical parts
(e.g. a bump on a rod, or a notch inside a cilinder) that
allow to "break the symmetry" are also called "polarizer".
And I suspect that "polarized light filters" happen to be much later than
the word "polarizer" was coined. The analogous element in optics is
typically called "polarizer", and never "filter".
Igor
Jostein Oksne Thu, 23 Jul 2015 13:49:06 -0700 wrote:
I believe "polariser" is a word created from "polarised light filter",
hence PL-filter.
Jostein
-----Opprinnelig melding----- From: Igor PDML-StR
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2015 4:27 AM
To: PDML@pdml.net
Subject: What's in the name?
I know that there are quite a few language and grammar geeks among
PDMLers. That's why I thought I'd share this linguistic question that
got me puzzled.
I see that almost everybody who is talking about Circular Polarizers
uses an abbreviation "CPL", either as a noun or adjective (e.g. CPL
filter). The curious part is that none of the online photography
articles and reviews that talks about "CPL" bothers to deabbreviate it.
(Just as a reference, all scientific journals where I've
published my articles require to define any abbreviation before using it
for the first time, even for those that are common in the field.)
So, my question is "What does the `L' in CPL stand for?"
I have 3 versions of what it might be (or what photographers who use that
abbreviation might mean), including a standard one that is typically
used in optical methods in physics, chemistry and related areas
of science. None of those 3 would be strictly speaking correct.
So, I am suspecting that I might be missing something more obvious.
So, what does the `L' in CPL stand for?
Thank you,
Igor
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