ANZAC or Anzac?

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

So at least June 1915, but from the entries discovered by Rick, quite probably (almost certainly?) earlier in the form 'Anzac'.

Most definitely earlier. It's also mentioned in the AWM link I suggested earlier: "You'll find a brief summation of the Anzac spirit on the AWM website, including the origins of the word 'Anzac' itself, and I'd suggest it's required reading for this debate: http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/anzac/spirit.asp

To quote: "Devised by a signaller in Egypt as a useful acronym for “Australian and New Zealand Army Corps”, it quickly became a word with many uses and meanings."

Once again there's no mention of any date, but given that planning commenced in late 1914, after Britain declared war on Turkey and the Australians and New Zealanders were diverted to Egypt, it's entirely inconceivable that signallers waited until after the landing to coin the acronym, and used the longhand form during months of training and organization in Egypt and on Lemnos. Rick's info states "one day early in 1915", and while Bean may have written this in 1921 it does not alter the context. Clearly an acronym was needed for signals, and once it had been coined it would instantly become a word in speech at HQ, thereafter to be written as such. There's no suggestion its usage arose amongst the troops themselves, nor would that make any sense. Even Bean goes on to state: "It was, however, some time before the code word came into general use, and at the Landing many men in the divisions had not yet heard of it."

Therefore it had to be some time between declaration of war on 5/11/14 and the landing itself on 25/4/15, and logically it would be closer to the first date. As Diana suggests though it would be interesting to see the earliest written use of the word in a primary source. Certainly you'd expect it to be a long time before a military signals code became casualized in newspapers, which as Mike has shown had already occurred by June '15.

Just on a side note, I read somewhere during this discussion that the title 'Australasian Army Corps' was coined initially, and even appeared in the unit diary. The suggestion was that the Kiwis objected so it was abandoned. If true, then it's the Kiwis themselves who are responsible for the word they now find so objectionable!