Editing Bomba (cryptography) (section)

==Etymology==
How the machine came to be called a "bomb" has been an object of fascination and speculation. One theory, most likely apocryphal, originated with Polish engineer and army officer Tadeusz Lisicki (who knew Rejewski and his colleague [[Henryk Zygalski]] in wartime Britain but was never associated with the [[Biuro Szyfrów|Cipher Bureau]]). He claimed that [[Jerzy Różycki]] (the youngest of the three Enigma cryptologists, and who had died in a Mediterranean passenger-ship sinking in January 1942) named the "bomb" after an [[Bombe glacée|ice-cream dessert]] of that name. This story seems implausible, since Lisicki had not known Różycki. 

Rejewski himself stated that the device had been dubbed a "bomb" "for lack of a better idea".<ref>[[Marian Rejewski]], "Appendix D: How the Polish Mathematicians Broke Enigma" in {{harvp|Kozaczuk|1984|p=267}}.</ref> 

Perhaps the most credible explanation is given by a Cipher Bureau technician, Czesław Betlewski: workers at B.S.-4, the Cipher Bureau's German section, christened the machine a "[[bomb]]" (also, alternatively, a "[[washing machine]]" or a "[[Mangle (machine)|mangle]]") because of the characteristic muffled noise that it produced when operating.{{sfnp|Kozaczuk|1984|p=63, note 1}}

A top-secret U.S. Army report dated 15 June 1945 stated: 

{{blockquote|A machine called the "[[bombe]]" is used to expedite the solution.  The first [[machine]] was built by the Poles and was a hand operated multiple enigma machine. When a possible solution was reached a part would fall off the machine onto the floor with a loud noise. Hence the name "bombe".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/documents/bmbrpt/bmbpg001.HTM  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722155542/http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/documents/bmbrpt/bmbpg001.HTM |archive-date=2009-07-22 |url-status=dead |title=The US 6812 Division Bombe Report Eastcote 1944 |website=Codesandciphers.org.uk}}</ref> }}

The U.S. Army's above description of the Polish ''bomba'' is both vague and inaccurate, as is clear from the device's description at the end of the second paragraph of the "[[Bomba (cryptography)#History|History]]" section, below: "Each bomb... essentially constituted an ''electrically powered'' aggregate of ''six'' Enigmas..."  Determination of a solution involved no disassembly ("a part... fall[ing] off") of the device.