réseau

News to me. Obviously my 4 years of high school French did not prepare me, or I was absent that day.

Definition of réseau: (rā-zō')
“1. A net or mesh foundation for lace. 2. A network of fine lines used by astronomers as a reference for measurements on star photographs. 3. A mosaic screen of fine lines of three colors, used in color photography.” (answers.com).

Where I ran across it:
6/17/08 NYT article remembering technology visionary, Paul Otlet, “The Web Time Forgot,” by Alex Wright.

“…He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” — or arguably, “web.” …”

My two cents:
Now here’s an absolutely fascinating article about a pre-computer age guy from Belgium who envisioned it all – in 1934. Paul Otlet had the world-wide-réseau in his head “more than half a century before Tim Berners-Lee released the first Web browser in 1991. Otlet (pronounced ot-LAY) described a networked world where ‘anyone in his armchair would be able to contemplate the whole of creation.’”

Go. Read. You’ll be edified and amazed.

Take that, Al Gore.