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Re: Origin of the word "tank" (military)



My instinct on this question was to see what the Oxford English Dictionary had to say. They say that the military use is a special use of a previous definition ("reservoir of water") "adopted in Dec. 1915 for purposes of secrecy during manufacture." In 1970, a Sunday Times article said that "for security purposes, the cumbersome metal machines needed a code-name; 'water carriers' was rejected in favor of 'tanks.'"

Since it's Friday: I also learned that as first produced, there were two types of tanks, male and female. No, it's not what you think; just that one had smaller artillery than the other.



Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer
Special Collections Librarian/Archivist

Culinary Institute of America
1946 Campus Drive
Hyde Park, NY  12538
(845) 451-1757
c_crawfo@culinary.edu

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