joy-stick (n.) also joystick, 1910, aviators' slang for the control lever of an airplane, from joy + stick (n.). Transferred sense of "small lever to control movement" is from 1952; later especially in reference to controlling images on a screen (1978). As slang for "dildo," probably from early 1930s. also from 1910

Etymology [ edit] From joy +‎ stick. First attested around 1910 (as joy-stick) as the control stick on an airplane. Its relation to the word joy is unclear.

We do know that the term actually predates World War One and is first recorded from a British source. In a search for its source some etymologists have been led up a blind alley. Several works on aviation history cite a man named Joyce as the inventor, so that the first form was presumably Joyce stick, later slurred and compressed into joystick.

Amazingly there is no confirmed origin for the word joystick! According to Engadget.com “Some researchers feel its origins are the result of “the exhilaration felt by an early pilot’s journey into the air,” (a stick that makes you happy) while others believe it is named for a Missouri pilot and inventor, James Henry Joyce (the Joyce stick)”.

The name joystick is thought to originate with early 20th century French pilot Robert Esnault-Pelterie. There are also competing claims on behalf of fellow pilots Robert Loraine, James Henry Joyce, and A. E. George.