The idea of a trie for representing a set of strings was first abstractly described by Axel Thue in 1912.[1][2] Tries were first described in a computer context by René de la Briandais in 1959.[3][4][2] The idea was independently described in 1960 by Edward Fredkin,[5] who coined the term trie, pronouncing it /ˈtriː/ (as "tree"), after the middle syllable of retrieval.[6][7] However, other authors pronounce it /ˈtraɪ/ (as "try"), in an attempt to distinguish it verbally from "tree".[6][7][2]