from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
Metadata
<product> (Note: One unhyphenated word with initial capital;
contrast {meta data}) A word coined by Jack E. Myers to
represent current and future lines of products implementing
the concepts of his {MetaModel}, and also to designate his
company {The Metadata Company} that would develop and market
those products.
A data and publication search performed when Myers coined the
term, early in the summer of 1969, did not discover any use
either of the word "metadata" or "meta data". Myers used the
term in a 1973 product brochure and it is an Incontestable
registered U.S. Trademark.
(1997-04-06)