An excerpt below from an interesting history of Minolta I stumbled over, the company was founded by Kazuo Tashima in 1928, originally as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shoten (Japan-Germany Camera Company). The name was changed to Minolta in 1933.
"A new model introduced in 1933 first carried the Minolta brand name, a name Tashima created to sound like the Japanese word "minoru-ta," which means ripening rice field. The name reminded Tashima of a proverb his mother frequently used, meaning that the more successful one becomes, the more humble one must be: "The ripest ears of rice bow their heads lowest." The name, however, also has a Western meaning, as an acronym for Machinery and Instruments Optical by Tashima."
You can read a lot more about the Minolta history here. http://companies.jrank.org/pages/2818/M ... o-Ltd.html
Greg
Origin of the Minolta name
- Greg Beetham
- Tower of Babel
- Posts: 6117
- Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 3:25 pm
- Location: Townsville, Qld. Australia
- Contact:
- KevinBarrett
- Emperor of a Minor Galaxy
- Posts: 2449
- Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:32 pm
- Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
- Contact:
Re: Origin of the Minolta name
I heard the man responsible for the "Kodak" name just really liked the letter "k."
Kevin Barrett
-- Photos --
-- Photos --
- Greg Beetham
- Tower of Babel
- Posts: 6117
- Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 3:25 pm
- Location: Townsville, Qld. Australia
- Contact:
Re: Origin of the Minolta name
Yes that's the way it looks alright, George E. and his Mum just made it up...I've lived all this time and never knew.
Greg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_Kodak#Kodak_name
Greg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_Kodak#Kodak_name
- Dr. Harout
- Subsuming Vortex of Brilliance
- Posts: 5662
- Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 7:38 pm
- Location: Yerevan, Armenia
- Contact:
Re: Origin of the Minolta name
Thanks for the links. Nice reading.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests