> The origins of the term “data base” and subsequently “database” go back a long way. The first sighting of the term was its use in 1963 by the System Development Corporation who sponsored a symposium with the title “Development and Management of a Computer-centered Data Base”. The term “data base” was picked up by the contributors to the symposium in the titles of their papers.
Huh. "Development and Management of a Computer-centered Data Base" was published in November 1963 while a Google Books search finds the 1962 DoD "annual report of the Office of Civil Defense" at https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_Of... (so one year older) with cover letter date "November 24, 1962" with:
> Necessary weather forecasts are furnished by the U.S. Weather Bureau. The so-called "data base" used in the computer assessment process is stored at computer locations on magnetic tapes.
On page 64 we can read about "Data Base Improvements"
> Resource data are obtained manually and by use of automatic data processing systems. ... During fiscal year 1963, OCD, through contracts and agreements with other agencies, completed or continued projects to materially strengthen the data base for these purposes.
(FY 1963 was July 1 1962-June 30 1963.)
And apparently there are three uses of "data base" in "Automation and Scientific Communication", Short Papers Contributed to the Theme Sessions of the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Documentation Institute at Chicago, Pick-Congress Hotel, October 6-11, 1963, including
> The data base for the current experimental system is derived from "Current Research and Development in Scientific Documentation, No. 10" (10).
On the other hand, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Air_Force_AFM/J8f73BV6e... tells me that in December of 1963 (after the November citation you gave), "Data Base" was defined as an Air Force term for "A group of data elements or related features arranged in a logical sequence", and an "Intelligence Data Base" is "An aggregation of finished or initially processed intelligence data ... which can be exploited to provide information to augment specific analyses and validate decisions."
That may explain why "Organization and Presentation of Environmental Data for Office of Civil Defense Use (A Feasibility Study)" dated April 1963, at https://www.google.com/books/edition/Organization_and_Presen... has a few uses of "data base" including, on page 19, "A reference library is another type of nonautomated data base."
This makes it seem like "data base" was a term in use predating that 1963 publication.
> "data base" was a term in use predating that 1963 publication
I agree, and actually reading through some of it only reinforces the feeling. I suppose the real answer could well still be CLASSIFIED, if it was even recorded in the first place.
The term "base" used with data would correlate well with the military term for "base" and perhaps adds some color to its original context.
Perhaps a "data base" originated as "A safe refuge of facts from which you would learn, train, and launch a defense or an attack?"
Or perhaps its a "base" (basis) of facts from which you operate in a military operation?
Or perhaps someone else non-military used the term first but it picked up early resonance in the military community due to its additional connotations for them or their management?
Anyway, TIL. I wonder whether a FOIA request to NSA or DoD would turn up anything.
I could also believe many groups arrived at the term independently, deriving naturally from conversation along the lines of: "These are the data on which decisions are based"
See also Rich Hickey's definition of "basis". I bet he spent a good while digging into the etymology.
The article mentioned CODASYL-era the term was used but wondering where it started...