Maybe they should have called the 'original' supercharger a "mechanical air compressor" instead of supercharger since the connection between the term and the definition is pretty weak, while Tesla's supercharger is an actual charger that charges more quickly than your average charger... making it 'super.'
'air charge' is a specific term meaning the air entering the combustion chamber.
So 'supercharge' is a term for 'bigger air charge'.
However, when you deconstruct it, it is a bit silly. I dislike the addition of 'super' to things anyway, it's a very lazy way of coining a term.
Maybe we should all just adopt Kompressor like the Germans. And leave supercharge, supercharger and supercharged for the marketing folk to devalue to oblivion.
Edit : I just thought of a much better name. Who wouldn't want to connect up their Tesla to the ... wait for it..:
Warpcharger
Yeah, Warpcharger stations. Much cooler, and probably able to be trademarked as well.
"Super" means that the subject is "above" as in superstructure, superscript and superintendent. A supercharger is then a charger that's above (presumably in performance) regular chargers.
"To charge" means "to load [a carriage]", "A charge" means "a [carriage] load" -- so while the metaphor is overloaded, it actually seems to applies better to charging a battery than to forcing air into a combustion engine.
