Originally converters were large rotating electromechanical devices used to convert AC to DC. It is what you have to do if you don't have semiconductor or vacuum tube rectifiers. Essentially they COMBINED a synchronous ac MOTOR with a commutator so that the commutator reversed its connections to the ac line exactly twice per cycle. The results are ac-in dc-out (with a LOT of SWITCHING noise thrown in). If you invert the connections to a converter you put dc in and GET ac out. Hence an inverter is an inverted converter.

Originally converters were large rotating electromechanical devices used to convert AC to DC. It is what you have to do if you don't have semiconductor or vacuum tube rectifiers. Essentially they combined a synchronous ac motor with a commutator so that the commutator reversed its connections to the ac line exactly twice per cycle. The results are ac-in dc-out (with a lot of switching noise thrown in). If you invert the connections to a converter you put dc in and get ac out. Hence an inverter is an inverted converter.