télécommunication

Forms

télécommunication f (plural télécommunications)^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French télé- + communication, first recorded in 1904.^[3][4][5][1] Wiktionary credits the coinage to the engineer and novelist Édouard Estaunié.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Nouveau Larousse illustré (1904), under télégraphie: wireless telegraphy is described as applied to telecommunication processes that rely on the emission and propagation of Hertzian waves.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word soon covered every way of sending signals, writing, images and sounds at a distance by wire, radio, optical or other electromagnetic means, and it is used mostly in the plural, as in the name ministère des Postes et Télécommunications.^[5][3] It is shortened in familiar use to télécom, les télécoms.^[1]

Timeline

• 1904 – First record, in the Nouveau Larousse illustré.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sending, transmission and reception of information of any kind at a distance, by wire, radio, optical or electromagnetic means; chiefly in the plural: réseau de télécommunications, satellite de télécommunications.^[3][1][5]

Word family

• télécom

Related words

• communication
• télégraphie

References

1. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse