How to find the oldest reference to a term on the Web?

Question

Now that "Sort by date" was retired in Google Search (except for news), how can I find the oldest reference to a term on the Web?

I also tried DuckDuckGo, and couldn't find an option to search by date

Answer 1

1. You can search by date range: Tools > Any Time > Custom Range...
2. Attempt to make a custom variation of Google that will do this: https://programmablesearchengine.google.com/about/
3. This site: https://www.oldestsearch.com/