Telefon

Forms

Telefon n (genitive Telefons, plural Telefone)^[1] Until the end of the 1940s it was spelled Telephon.^[2][1] In the 19th century it was occasionally masculine.^[3]

Etymology

It is a learned new formation from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “far off”), through the combining form tele-, and φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”).^[4][3][5][6] Paul's first record is from 1794;^[2] Kluge dates its introduction to 1796, on the model of Telegraph.^[4] The same word is Dutch telefoon, English telephone, French téléphone and Swedish telefon.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

At the end of the 18th century the name was given to various mechanical devices for sending messages by sound.^[3][2] The word passed in the second half of the 19th century to the electrical telephone;^[3][5] Duden names the apparatus built by Philipp Reis in 1861 for transmitting the human voice along wires.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

telefonisch is recorded by Kaltschmidt in 1863 and telefonieren by Sanders in 1871, and Heyse's dictionary of 1873 defined the telephone as a device for carrying sounds by means of the electric current.^[2][3] The new means of communication soon entered literature: in Kafka's Das Schloß (1926) the telephone in taverns may be useful, “like a music machine, and no more”.^[2] Fernsprecher was promoted as a native replacement.^[4]

Timeline

• 1794 – First record.^[2]
• 1796 – Introduced on the model of Telegraph, according to Kluge.^[4]
• 1861 – Philipp Reis builds his apparatus.^[5]
• 1863 – telefonisch is recorded.^[2]
• 1871 – telefonieren is recorded.^[2]
• 1947 – Duden still writes Telephon; the spelling with ⟨f⟩ prevails afterwards.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A telephone: an apparatus for making calls over a line or by radio: Das Telefon klingelt.^[7][1]
2. A telephone connection, a line: Sie hat sich Telefon legen lassen.^[7][8]
3. (rare) The handset.^[7]

Word family

• telefonieren
• telefonisch
• Telefonat
• Telefonbuch
• Mobiltelefon

Related words

• Telegraf
• Fernsprecher
• English telephone

Usage notes

Sich ans Telefon hängen (colloquial) is to get on the phone, to make calls.^[7] The stress is usually on the last syllable, but an initial stress is also heard.^[7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
3. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 912
5. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 854
6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
7. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org