telephone

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈtel.ɪ.fəʊn/, US /ˈtel.ə.foʊn/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French téléphone, formed about 1830^[2][3] from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “far”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound, voice”).^[2][3] It is related to phone, telegraph and telescope.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A system for sending words to a distant point by musical notes: 1835, of a system devised in 1828 by the French composer Jean-François Sudré, which never proved practical.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In 1844 it was an instrument like a foghorn for signalling between ships,^[3][2] and in 1849 a kind of megaphone.^[3] The electrical apparatus was first described in modern form by Philip Reis (1861) and named so by him,^[2][4] and Alexander Graham Bell, who developed it between 1873 and 1876, used the name from 1876.^[3][2][4] The verb is from 1877–78.^[3][2][4] The telephone book is attested by 1880, the telephone number by 1882, and the telephone box from 1880.^[2]

Timeline

• 1835 – Sudré's musical system.^[2]
• 1844 – a ship's signal horn.^[3]
• 1876 – Bell's telephone.^[3][4]
• 1877 – verb.^[3]
• 1880 – telephone book.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A device for speaking to someone at a distance, using electrical signals or radio; a phone.
2. The system of communication using such devices.

Verb

1. To speak to someone by telephone; to call.

Word family

• telephoner
• phone
• pretelephone
• telephonic
• telephonist
• telephony

Related words

• telegraph
• telescope
• television
• phonetic

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press