[ih] What is the origin of the root account?

[Larry Sheldon]

On 4/13/2013 6:28 AM, John Day wrote:
> I think you are getting close to what we are discovering:  There was a
> root, and there was an account built-in that gave one access to the
> root, and it was natural to refer to it as the "root account," but the
> documentation didn't call it that.  ;-)

That is where I started, pretty much.

> Common usage created the concept (phrase) in the community and it
> becomes so used it seems it should be there.  This is not uncommon.

Indeed--I believe that a lot of things get an explanation for their name 
(and for their very existence) long after the existence and usage is 
long part of the innate lore of what ever environment we are looking at.

I think there is a (semi?) formal name for the process in some 
circles--"back formation".
-- 
Requiescas in pace o email           Two identifying characteristics
                                         of System Administrators:
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio      Infallibility, and the ability to
                                         learn from their mistakes.
                                           (Adapted from Stephen Pinker)