Retronym
From Free net encyclopedia
A retronym is a type of neologism coined for an old object or concept whose original name has become used for something else or is no longer unique. Retronym is a neologism coined by Frank Mankiewicz [1] and popularized by William Safire [2] in 1980 in the New York Times. Many of these are created by advances in technology. However, a retronym itself is a neological word coinage consisting of the original noun with a different adjective added, which emphasises the distinction to be made from the original form.
As reported 10/3/2005 by AP [3], retronym has officially made it into the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. Further investigation reveals a report that the American Heritage Dictionary apparently added the word to their lexicon first, back in 2003 [4].
An example of a retronym is PATA.