I guess this is the origin of recursive glob, found in Zsh 1.0 source code, found in alt.sources archive.

glob.c

/*
 * See https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.sources.d/uJlYosi0fjQ/O1Yct30R3mAJ
 * And https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.sources/tVgN49u8Ax4/7VgQlHZ4bJMJ
*/
qath parseqath(void)
{
comp c1;
qath p1;

	if (pptr[0] == '.' && pptr[1] == '.' && pptr[2] == '.' && pptr[3] ==
			'.' && pptr[4] == '/')
		{
		pptr[0] = Inpar;
		pptr[1] = Star;
		pptr[2] = '/';
		pptr[3] = Outpar;
		pptr[4] = Pound;	/* "..../" -> "( * /)#" */
		}