1780, apparently coined by Jeremy Bentham from inter- + national. In communist jargon, as a noun and with a capital -i-, it is short for International Working Men's Association, the first of which was founded in London by Marx in 1864. "The Internationale" (from fem. of French international), the socialist hymn, was written 1871 by Eugène Pottier. International Date Line is from 1910. Related: Internationally.