The origins are military, the Romans were the first engineers. The root is ingeniosus, meaning "skilled". The military engineers were always responsible for more than building of siege engines, they would also build the earth works for attack and defense. The term 'civil engineer' was coined to differentiate building of public works from the military form. I have a feeling it might have been Brunnel who coined the term but it might be earlier. During the 19th century engineers were the rock stars of the day. > -----Original Message----- > From: ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx [mailto:ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx] On > Behalf Of George Swallow > Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2005 8:23 AM > To: Jeffrey Hutzelman > Cc: JFC (Jefsey) Morfin; swallow@xxxxxxxxx; ietf@xxxxxxxx > Subject: Re: OFF TOPIC - Bail money for IETF 64? > > > > Unfortunately, the English term can carry either of these meanings, > > depending largely on context. It is applied to people who drive > > trains (because they operate an "engine", to people who provide > > technical support, and also to people who design complex > electrical or > > mechanical systems or structures. You have to know from > context which > > is which. > > It's my (non-authoritative) understanding that the term > engineer originally meant someone who built engines (think > seize engines, etc). > > When locomotive were first invented they were not very > reliable so the guy who drove them was a kind of 'field > support engineer' and the name engineer stuck. > > ...George > > ============================================================== > ========== > George Swallow Cisco Systems > (978) 936-1398 > 1414 Massachusetts Avenue > Boxborough, MA 01719 > > _______________________________________________ > Ietf mailing list > Ietf@xxxxxxxx > https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf > > _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf