A Nerdy Hypothetical From a College Entrance Exam.There are seven different theories that explain etymology of the term: An early dongle was a solid and non-dangling RS232 block, it’s only modern dongles that dangle, and only when attached to a key-fob or lanyard.Īccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, dongle first appeared in reference to computer security systems sometime between 19, when someone was seeking a term for a doodad that dangled, dong-like, from a device-and dug up dongle. A good advertising trick, but actually nobody knows for sure why dongles are called dongles.
There is a story that ‘dongles’ is derived from the name of a person who designed dongles first – Don Gall. By attaching it to a computer or another electronic appliance a user can unlock software functionality or decode content or access a hardware device. A hardware key has a product key or other protection mechanism. A software protection dongle is a device that allows you to protect content from accessing and copying.
