Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

A Brief History of Terms: Coil

Even back when it first surfaced to the broader public, it was a hard, near impossible task to trace the proper origin of the term coil. The meaning was officialised when it had already spread and been used, in what really only served as recognition for the effective existence of it. Much like the public statement in which it was utilised served as little more than a formal acknowledgement of a phenomenon most of Equestria was becoming aware of by itself.

The date of Princess Twilight's speech to the nation on the matter of coils was recorded, of course. So was the hour, and if one really wanted to they could determine the exact minute when the word was first spoken in an official context. But that would be a rather pointless endeavour, if perhaps an amusing one.

Truth is, the matter of coils had by that point already been amply discussed elsewhere, the term widely accepted, and not one creature even paid mind to Twilight's use of it in her speech. The origin of words is indeed a very complicated matter in most cases, and much more fluid of a process than what many might assume. Especially when a term originates, as one could say, from below, from groups of creatures and their need to identify something, and not from above, imposed by an authority.

To determine the origin of the word coil, in its post Arrival meaning, the best course of action is perhaps that of determining the time and place of appearance of the first coil itself. This, if anything, provides a window of time during which the term must have come into being. Unfortunately, not only is the topic of the first coil just barely less complex than that of the origin of the term, it is also less helpful than what one might hope. While it is agreed on by a rather sizable portion of those studying the phenomenon that Firecracker was the first to display the signs of one, they only later learned of the term, through contact with others who themselves had learned it from other sources, after other coils had been found and studied.

Some claim it was Pinkie Pie who coined the term. Reports agree that, upon stumbling into Princess Twilight's castle while the latter was in the process of examining one, she claimed that was their name, and having nothing else to call them by everyone temporarily adopted that. Where disagreements arise is on whether she made the term up on the spot and it simply stuck, or if she herself had heard it elsewhere and it was this reaffirmation of its use that prompted Twilight and her assistants to keep it. It does not help matters that Pinkie might have used the term elsewhere before then, giving then the impression that it was indeed already in use.

This does, however, at the least provide a date before which the term must have originated. Coupled with a rough estimate of when Firecracker's coil first manifested, the result is a three week period during which the word first gained its new meaning, alongside a rough geographical estimate of either Ponyville or the neighbouring areas, at most about a fifth of the country accounting for the potential spread of information.

As for why the term was chosen though, no one has been able to provide a suitable explanation, leading much credence to the possibility that Pinkie Pie may have indeed come up with it herself.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Never mind the question of what a coil actually is. Though I suppose if this is an in-universe document, that would go without saying.

Also, looking back at both yesterday's chapter and "Binary"... I do believe I've finally put some pieces together.