Haptic is a term which is probably becoming more and more popular because of the recent introduction into the mass market of smart devices (phones, watches etc.) with heptic characteristics.
Haptic refers to:
a technology that uses touch to control and interact with computers. A user may apply a sense of touch through vibrations, motion or force.
Haptic technology is used mainly in creating virtual objects, controlling virtual objects or in the improvement of the remote control of machines and devices.
Haptic devices can measure reactive forces and bulk forces applied by a user.
(Technopedia)
Haptic entered the English language towards the end of the 19th century but its usage has increased only in recent decades (Ngram) in technological contexts.
- "pertaining to the sense of touch," 1890, from Greek haptikos "able to come into contact with," from haptein "to fasten". (Etymonline)
My question:
In what fields was the term originally used (medical, scientific or else)? that is, how come that this "greek" term was borrowed at the turn of the 19th century?
Is the term now used also outside tech contexts?
Best Answer
The OED attributes haptic and haptics to translations of a passage in Isaac Barrow's 1683 Lectiones Mathematicae,
The first citation of haptic in the OED is from 1860, in William Whewell's edition, and the first of haptics in an earlier translation published in 1734 by John Kirby:
But neither term saw much light of day, and it is more probably more accurate to say that it was introduced from the world of psychology in the late 19th century, the OED's second suggestion. Specifically, it appears the 1892 Über den Hautsinn by Max Dessoir, coined as a parallel to acoustics and optics:
or loosely,
I imagine Dessoir wanted a term of Greek origin, hence haptics over, say, tactilics. Haptic as an adjective is cited from 1895 onwards, with the first post-Dessoir citation given from Mind 4:407:
Until the term was applied to touchscreen technology, the psychological term seems to have been the principle use, hence the International Society for Haptics.