frobnitz

English

Etymology

Coined c. 1958 by David R. Sawyer of the MIT Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) as a fanciful name for model railroad parts, perhaps originally as a proper noun.[1] More general use presumably dates from the 1960s, as it is not found in the TMRC dictionaries of 1959 or 1960.[2]

Noun

frobnitz (plural frobnitzes)

  1. Synonym of gizmo

Derived terms

References
  1. Eric S[teven] Raymond, editor (2003 December 29), “frobnicate”, in The Jargon File, version 4.4.7, quoting Peter Samson: “Under the TMRC [railroad] layout were many storage boxes, managed (in 1958) by David R. Sawyer. Several had fanciful designations written on them, such as ‘Frobnitz Coil Oil’. Perhaps DRS intended Frobnitz to be a proper name, but the name was quickly taken for the thing”.
  2. Peter R. Samson (1959 June) An Abridged Dictionary of the TMRC Language‎, first annotated edition, Tech Model Railroad Club of MIT, published 2005, archived from the original on 2007-07-07; Peter R. Samson (1960) An Abridged Dictionary of the TMRC Language‎, second annotated edition, Tech Model Railroad Club of MIT, published 2005, archived from the original on 2007-05-04.

Further reading
  • “frobnitz”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
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