21

Saw this on a charger I bought online and was really perplexed. What foreign word does it represent? "concentric"? What does that have to do with electrical outlet and where did it come from?

Jack Bosma
  • 6,657
  • 5
  • 35
  • 103
mmdanziger
  • 707
  • 1
  • 4
  • 10

2 Answers2

17

It is 和製英語. Sometime around the 1920s, employees at 東京電燈会社 created a device which consisted of a plug and outlet. This was called コンセントプラグ "concentric plug". Outlets without the plugs are now referred to as コンセント. Needless to say, English "concentric" does not make much sense.

Dono
  • 11,177
  • 7
  • 51
  • 63
  • 2
    Why should the コンセント part of コンセントプラグ be interpreted as “concentric” if doing so does not make sense? – Tsuyoshi Ito Jan 20 '13 at 17:37
  • 1
    Shogakukan gives the same "concentric plug" as the etymology. This is also not so strange as an English phrase, as found in [this US Patent # 6786744 B1](http://www.google.com/patents/US6786744). Limiting one's search to the UK also finds examples like [this part ordering page](http://www.partmaster.co.uk/concentric-plug-15-25/product.pl?pid=1448083) or [this entry in an English-French online dictionary](http://eudict.com/?lang=engfre&word=electrical%20outlet%20(concentric%20plug);%20consent;%20concentric), which even includes the abbreviated form "*consent*" in the English. – Eiríkr Útlendi Jun 03 '14 at 19:15
  • 1
    It's not that "concentric" doesn't make sense but absent any context, "concent"/"concentric" tells you nothing and doesn't mean the same in English. In other words, if you say "concentric" in English to an English speaker, they would never understand that as an electric outlet. – psosuna Sep 26 '19 at 17:19
  • 1
    The context is the charger and the electrical outlet. – Jack Bosma Sep 27 '19 at 18:55
14

It appears that コンセント derives from "concentric plug", as plugs were round (concentric) in early 20th century England.

コンセント

source

Earthliŋ
  • 47,707
  • 9
  • 125
  • 198
  • See my comment to Dono's answer -- this isn't 和製英語 at all, but what appears to be British slang "consent" for "concentric plug", itself a pretty straightforward term for the round plugs-and-sockets common in many countries. – Eiríkr Útlendi Jun 06 '14 at 23:42
  • @EiríkrÚtlendi I'm afraid I can't find the entry where the English is abbreviated to "consent". The English-French dictionary doesn't have an entry for "consent", only a buffered search containing "consent", which probably came from [here](http://www.eudict.com/?lang=engjpk&word=electrical%20outlet%20%28concentric%20plug%29;%20consent;%20concentric), i.e. コンセント could mean _either_ plug _or_ consent (authorization) and lumping them together bled into other dictionaries. So far, I still think it more likely that コンセント is 和製英語, derived from "concentric plug". – Earthliŋ Jun 07 '14 at 00:04
  • There's a reminder to slow down when I'm tired. Sure enough, that was a cached search. That said, I still don't think it's 和製英語 so much as a straightforward abbreviation, given that "concentric plug" or "concentric outlet" is in use without reference to Japan or Japanese (https://www.google.com/#q=%22concentric+plug%22+OR+%22concentric+outlet%22+-%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88+-japan+-japanese+-dictionary), and the meaning is the same. – Eiríkr Útlendi Jun 07 '14 at 00:36
  • 3
    @EiríkrÚtlendi Do you call パトカー 和製英語 or a "straightforward abbreviation" (or a "non-straightforward abbreviation")? – Earthliŋ Jun 07 '14 at 00:40
  • Missed your comment. I'd describe [パトカー](https://kotobank.jp/word/パトカー-603183) as a typically Japanese-style clipping-abbreviation of English _patrol car_, much like [ワープロ](https://kotobank.jp/word/ワープロ-10147) or [リモコン](https://kotobank.jp/word/リモコン-658453). Click through to the Kotobank pages, and you'll see that JA dictionaries treat these words as abbreviations of longer forms, which themselves were borrowings. Not 和製英語. – Eiríkr Útlendi Sep 27 '19 at 23:41
  • Separately, [here's a mention of "concentric socket"](https://books.google.com/books?id=VPZGAQAAIAAJ&lpg=PA582&ots=BPK2Hj2iKO&dq=%22the%20concentric%20socket%22&pg=PA582#v=onepage&q=%22the%20concentric%20socket%22&f=false) in an edition of _The Electrical Engineer_ from May 13, 1898. [Searching that same document for "the concentric"](https://books.google.com/books?id=VPZGAQAAIAAJ&lpg=PA582&ots=BPK2Hj2iKO&dq=%22the%20concentric%20socket%22&pg=PA790#v=onepage&q=%22the%20concentric%22&f=false) suggests that this may have been used to mean "the electric lines" in general. – Eiríkr Útlendi Sep 27 '19 at 23:44
  • 1
    Right, somehow we were cut off in the middle of a conversation 5 years ago =) Anyway, I agree that 和製英語 in my earlier comment is probably not the right term, as it is quite likely just an abbreviation of a transliteration like コンセントリックプラグ (or just コンセントリック). I guess you agree that the abbreviation would have happened in Japanese, though, and not in English. – Earthliŋ Sep 28 '19 at 00:00
  • Yes, definitely an abbreviation that happened after borrowing. The only evidence I can find of any abbreviated English term _"concent"_ seems to show up in English-language manuals or patents related to Korean products. ¯\\_㋡_/¯ – Eiríkr Útlendi Sep 28 '19 at 00:21