I have wondered lately where the word "Automatic" originated. Automatic is as ubiquitous in meaning and use as any I can think of. I occurred to me that perhaps it came to be during the rise of the automobile.

Is this true? if not where else would it have been used?

1748, first used by Eng. physician and philosopher David Hartley (1705-57) in ref. to involuntary animal or human actions, from Gk. automatos "self-acting," from autos- "self" (comb. form) + matos "thinking, animated." Sense of "self-acting, having power of motion" is from 1812; especially of machinery which simulates human action from 1940. As an abbreviation of automatic pistol or gun, it is attested from 1902; meaning "car with an automatic transmission" is from 1949. Automatic teller first attested 1971. Automation was coined 1948 by Ford Motor Co. Vice President Delmar S. Harder; automate is a 1952 back-formation.