> The first instance of 'zoom' noted in the Oxford dictionary is 1886, and > it just says "echoic" - it's onomatopeia for moving fast, as in an > aircraft. So this presumably got transferred to the action of a zoom > lens. (Not much of a story... ^_^) Heck, that's one hell of a stoy. "moving fast, as in an aircraft" - all that 17 years before the Wright brothers'first flight (though admitedly the first manned glider was flown in the UK (Scarboro') in 1853. It is an interesting question. http://www.despair.com/demotivators/cluelessness.html One of those questions that seems so obvious till you try to answer it. I too looked up the etymology of the word - can't find a consistent answer. As to Zoomar lenses: I don't think they led to the word. The question is whether the company was named after the word, or whether there actually was a Herr Zoomar ... Bob
