It was only called that "because we didn't know what else to call it", according to one of Gygax's players (RPG as a term hadn't been coined at that stage), and the text explicitly says that the rules don't assume the use of minis. And fantasy minis mostly did not exist back then, and the majority of groups didn't use minis at all, on the advice of people who were there. Your assumptions are wrong, explicitly refuted by people who were there. Don't drag this dead horse out for another beating, your arguments have been refuted before, and are based on assumption.