Abstract
The word “system” would appear to have originated in ancient Greece, where it related to music and meant a compound interval or a scale or series of notes extending through such an interval. But, for reasons which will be discussed in the next Section, it is likely that the system concept, i.e. something being both whole and consisting of parts, was also present in other cultures, e.g. in China.
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References
The early history of the word “system” is taken from The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1989)
Collins Shorter Dictionary, HarperCollins (1991)
Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Melbourne (1984)
Aslaksen, E., Belcher, R.: Systems Engineering. Prentice Hall, Australia (1992)
Johnson, R.A., Kast, F.W., Rosenzweig, J.E.: The Theory and Management of Systems. McGraw-Hill (1963)
Wymore, A.W.: A Mathematical Theory of Systems Engineering - the Elements. Wiley (1967)
Miles, R.F. (ed.): System Concepts. Wiley (1973)
Wymore, A.W.: Systems Engineering Methodology for Interdisciplinary Teams. Wiley (1976)
Systems Engineering Handbook. In: Haskins, C. (ed.) INCOSE (2006)
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Aslaksen, E.W. (2013). Everyday Use and Meaning. In: The System Concept and Its Application to Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32169-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32169-6_1
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