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Origin and history of LP

LP

1948, abbreviation of long-playing phonograph record.

The most revolutionary development to hit the recording industry since the invention of the automatic changer is the Long Playing record, which can hold an entire 45-minute symphony or musical-comedy score on a single 12-inch disk. ... The disks, released a few weeks ago by Columbia Records and made of Vinylite, have phenomenally narrow grooves (.003 of an inch). They are played at less than half the speed of the standard old-style records. [Life magazine, July 26, 1948]

also from 1948

Entries linking to LP

long-playing(adj.)

1910, of gramophone recordings, from long (adv.) + present participle of play (v.).

seventy(adj., n.)

"seven times ten; the number which is one more than sixty-nine; a symbol representing this number;" Old English (hund)seofontig, from seofon (see seven) + -tig (see -ty (1)). Similar formation in Old Saxon sibuntig, Old Frisian soventich, Middle Dutch seventich, Old High German sibunzug, Old Norse sjautugr.

Seventy-eight (78) "gramophone record played at a speed of seventy-eight revolutions per minute," which was the standard until the introduction of long-play (see LP) in 1948; the use of seventy-eight to distinguish the old discs is by 1951.

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    Trends of LP

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    disk
    1660s, "round, approximately flat surface," from Latin discus "quoit, discus, disk," from Greek diskos "disk, quoit, platter," related to dikein "to throw" (see discus). The American English preferred spelling; also see disc. From 1803 as "thin, circular plate;" sense of "phonogr
    skid
    c. 1600, "beam, log, or plank on which something rests," especially on which something heavy can be rolled from place to place (1782), of uncertain origin, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse skið "stick of wood" (see ski (n.)). As "a sliding along" from 1890; s
    record
    c. 1200, recorden, "to repeat, reiterate, recite; rehearse, get by heart" (senses now obsolete), from Old French recorder "tell, relate, repeat, recite, report, make known" (12c.) and directly from Latin recordari "remember, call to mind, think over, be mindful of," from re-, her
    prattle
    "talk artlessly and childishly," 1530s, a frequentative (or diminutive) of prate (q.v.); also see -el (2) and (3). Related: Prattled; prattling. The noun, "inconsequential or childish talk," is attested from 1550s. Prattle is generally harmless, if not pleasant, as the prattle o
    precipitation
    late 15c., precipitacioun, "a casting down" (of the evil angels from heaven), also, in alchemy "separation of a solid substance from a solution," from Old French precipitation (15c.) and directly from Latin praecipitationem (nominative praecipitatio) "act or fact of falling headl
    clout
    Old English clut "lump of something," also "patch of cloth put over a hole to mend it," from Proto-Germanic *klutaz (source also of Old Norse klute "kerchief," Danish klud "rag, tatter," Frisian klut "lump," Dutch kluit "clod, lump"); perhaps related to clot (v.). In later use "a
    crush
    mid-14c., "smash, shatter, break into fragments or small particles; force down and bruise by heavy weight," also figuratively, "overpower, subdue," from Old French cruissir (Modern French écraser), variant of croissir "to gnash (teeth), crash, smash, break," which is perhaps from
    Creole
    "person born in a country but of a people not indigenous to it," c. 1600, from French créole (17c.), from Spanish criollo "(person) native to a locality," from Portuguese crioulo, diminutive of cria "person (especially a servant) raised in one's house," from criar "to raise or br
    carbohydrate
    general name for a group of organic compounds consisting of carbon atoms in multiples of 6 and hydrogen and oxygen in the proportion of water, 1851, from carbo-, combining form of carbon, + hydrate (n.), denoting compound produced when certain substances combine with water, from
    curmudgeon
    "churlish, miserly fellow, mean man," 1570s, of unknown origin. Drant (1568) translating Gregory of Nazianus, calls someone "a bolde curmogine chuffe." Liberman says the word "must have been borrowed from Gaelic" (and references muigean "disagreeable person"), with variant spelli

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