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Transpilers used to be called "source-to-source compilers", or "compilers" when the "source-to-source" distinction wasn't relevant.

Then the JS world came along and decided to use a new word to make it look more hip and cool.

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>decided to use a new word

A friendly FYI... the old word "transpiler" has been around since at least the 1960s. See the 2nd-to-last paragraph on the last page:

http://comjnl.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/1/28.full.pdf+htm...

It's not a new word. People have been using the word "transpiler" or "transcompiler" for source-to-source compilers since at least the late 80's [0]. They used to be popular for translating between different dialects of assembly. Then they fell out of fashion for a while before gaining popularity again in the last decade for targeting JavaScript. So while the "JS world" is responsible for re-popularizing both the word and the concept, they certainly didn't invent it.

[0]edit: Apparently 60's.

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