periscope

Etymology

It is formed from English peri- + -scope.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Peri- is from Ancient Greek περί (perí, “around”), and -scope goes back to σκοπέω (skopéō, “to look at, examine”);^[7][8] Weekley sees it as coined on the model of telescope.^[8] Merriam-Webster classes it as International Scientific Vocabulary,^[9] and Collins derives it from a Greek verb meaning "to look around".^[10] In its photographic sense the OED takes it after German Periskop, attributed to C. A. Steinheil in 1865, and it compares French périscope, used of a snake in 1874 and of the instrument from 1899.^[2] Dictionary.com takes it as a back-formation from periscopic.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A general survey or overview: 1825, in J. M. Good's Study of Medicine; this sense was obsolete by 1871.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

From 1865 to 1890 periscope was a photographic term for a kind of wide-angle lens, after the German use.^[2][3][6] The modern sense, a tube with mirrors or prisms that lets the viewer see from a point above or beside the eye, is recorded from 1899, in the Westminster Gazette;^[2][3][4] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1879.^[9][12] Such periscopes served in submarines, in trenches and in crowds,^[6][10] and later in work with highly radioactive materials.^[9] The phrase periscope depth is the depth at which a submarine's periscope just breaks the surface.^[6] A verb, to peer as if through a periscope, or to rise up above something like one, is recorded from 1933, in D. Thomas's notebook poems.^[2]

Timeline

• 1825 – a general survey or overview (obsolete by 1871).^[2][6]
• 1865 – in photography, a kind of wide-angle lens (obsolete by 1890).^[2][3]
• 1899 – a tubular instrument with mirrors or prisms for seeing over or around an obstacle.^[2][3][4] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1879.^[9]
• 1933 – verb, to peer as if through a periscope.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An optical instrument with mirrors or prisms at each end of a tube, through which a person can see things outside the direct line of sight, as from a submerged submarine or a trench: The captain raised the periscope and scanned the harbour.^{[10][9][6][2]}
2. (obsolete, 1825–1871) A general survey or overview.^[2][6]

Verb

1. To peer as if through a periscope, or to rise above something like one.^[2]

Word family

• periscopic

Related words

• scope
• telescope
• microscope

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster