[TUHS] Does anybody know the etymology of the term "word" as in collection of bits?

[John Foust via TUHS]

At 09:12 PM 9/8/2022, Larry McVoy wrote:
>My first job after school, I got to watch Neil toggle in the bootstrap
>stuff at the console.  He wasn't Seymour but he was very very good.
>One of the more substantial people I've ever met, I would guess he
>has passed but if he hasn't, he would like this group of people.

He passed away in 2007:

https://www.msthalloffame.org/neil_robert_lincoln.htm

Lincoln died on Jan. 26, 2007, at age 69. He was a member of the American 
Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics and holds nine U.S. patents for 
computer hardware. He was a Distinguished Lecturer of the Institute of 
Electronics and Electrical Engineers, a National Lecturer of the 
Association for Computer Machinery and on the Advisory Committee 
on Science and Technology Centers for the National Science Foundation.

- John