Possible Duplicate:What does etc stand for? And why isn't it named /cnf or /syscf or /cfg?  No one I have ever asked has been able to tell me, not that I have access to any of the minds that created UNIX.  When I was a youngster, I saw the /etc and assumed it was for 'et cetera', namely, other files that had no place elsewhere, and I used it for that in a few of my early Linux installs (cringeworthy, I know) in the mid-90's.  I continued learning and trying to do better, and I have, since.  But the mystery remains, and even the FSSTND does not seem to contain this info.  Anyone?
How did the system settings directory on UNIX come to be named /etc?
directory structure;history