890: doomsday May 16, 2017

Doomsday machines, or doomsday devices are ideas that were popularized in the 1950's during the cold war, when the concept of a machine that could wipe out all, or most, of humanity was at least theoretically conceivable, and the terms have been used in science fiction a great deal since. The actual term 'doomsday', or 'Domesday' goes back all the way to Old English however, with the words 'dōmes' and 'dæg', when the word that eventually became 'doom' meant 'judgement' or 'put in place'. Originally, this referred to Judgement Day, which in Christianity was the day at the end of the world when humanity would be Judged by God. Eventually, this 'Domesday', which is still used, turned into 'doomsday', such as with the 'Doomsday Book' (also found as 'Domesday Book') which laid out the record of ownership of land, and other things, in England in 1086. Soon after, in the 12th century, the sense of that book as the final authority was associated with the Final Judgement.