Etymology
The noun login comes from the verb (to) log in, which was formed by analogy with the verb to clock in. The expressions may also have a more literal origin — computer systems tend to keep a record, called a log, of users' access to the system; hence, to log in is to prompt an entry into the system's log by accessing the system. Signing in connotes the same idea, in that providing the credential that authenticates a user's right to entry is akin to a signature.
The terms began to enter common usage among computer users with the origin of the computer Bulletin Board System (BBS) in the 1970s.
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)