The concept is difficult to explain in a few words, but it seemed to me that he is trying to examine the ways in which one text continually refers to another or others, and there is no necessary single fixed meaning. This means that, rather than something having only one fixed meaning, the meaning is continually deferred, and is subject to and produced by its difference from other meanings.
Meaning is relational.
As I get chance to think more around these ideas, I will add more bits here. The name obviously relates to the previous explanation of where discussion comes from - but in many ways it starts to become almost a Derridean word game. If you are familiar with the history of computing, you cannot fail to know that Charles Babbage, credited with being the 'father' of computer hardware in the 19th century, designed what he called an 'analytic engine'. All rights reserved.