为什么用k这个字母代表短路

它来自德语Kurzschluss，在20世纪初，德语代表着科技的最高成就，是科技的通用语言。

在一个英文网站，同样有朋友有这个疑问，摘录如下：

Does anyone know the meaning of index “k” in many of the short-circuit related parameters, for example, Ik (short-circuit current), Uk (short-circuit voltage), Sk (short-circuit power)?

This index is used many books and standards in many languages. I suspect it comes from German “kurzschluss” (short-circuit) although I cannot verify it. This index nicely fits also in Russian textbooks (where the word “short” starts with a “k”).

In my native language, this index does not match anything and it is strange to use it unless I clearly know its origin.

I do not find subscript “k” in the books of C.P.Steinmetz (Theory and calculation of alternating current phenomena, 1900), W.W.Lewis (Transmission line engineering, 1928), C.F.Wagner & R.D.Evans (Symmetrical components, 1933), E.Clarke (Circuit analysis of AC power systems, 1943), P.M.Anderson (Analysis of faulted power systems, 1995). Although subscript “k” is used in IEEE Std 551 (Violet book), it seems to me that the origin of “k” has to be European.

I have found extensive use of subscript “k” in E.Arnold (Die Wechselstromtechnik, Erster Band, 1910). I guess I will find this subscript in earlier German texts as well. Taking into account that the German language was the only dominant scientific language in late 19th and early 20th centuries in which subscript “k” has a direct meaning, all points to “kurzschluss”.