Academics, style manual editors and others have recently pushed for an elimination of the capitalisation of the word "internet". This choice may have consequences that reach far beyond language and spelling, as it lends authority to the claim that there could be more than one "internet", which in turn is based on a historical narrative that is not necessarily accurate. By first exploring the meaning of the word "internet" and subsequently tracing its origins, this article shows how "internet" evolved from an adjective describing a class of networking activities into a proper noun defining the foundation of the current "internet" as early as 1976. It is shown how the use of "internet" as a common noun emerges post-hoc and may have commercial origins rather than historical. The article concludes by showing how both the current, popular, broad definition of "internet", as well as its historical roots, make the plural use of the term impossible, and why it should only be considered a proper noun, written as Internet.
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