Programme
PROGRAMME, or PROGRAM, in its original use, following that of Gr. irpoypafi^a, a public notice (irpaypafaiv, to make public by writing), now chiefly in the sense of a printed notice containing the items of a musical concert, with the names of the pieces to be performed, the composers and the performers, or of a theatrical performance, with the characters, actors, scenes, etc. In a wider sense the word is used of a syllabus or scheme of study, order of proceedings or the like, or of a catalogue or schedule containing the chief points in a course of action, and so, politically, in the sense of a list of the principal objects on which a party proposes to base its legislative course of action, as in the " Newcastle Programme " of 1891, drawn up by the Liberal Federation. The spelling " program," now general in America, was that first in use in England, and so continued till the French form " programme " was adopted at the beginning of the 19th century. The New English Dictionary considers the earlier and modern American spelling preferable, on the analogy of " diagram," " telegram," " cryptogram " and the like. Scott and Carlyle always used " program."
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
