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telefono

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word telefono

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1878, Nonnis-Marzano
Borrowed from
French téléphone
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek τῆλε,φωνή
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French téléphone
English telephone
Italian telefono
Derived words
French téléphoner ← téléphone

Pronunciation

  • /teˈlɛ.fo.no/[1]

Forms

telefono m (plural telefoni)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French téléphone, a learned compound of Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “far off”) and φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”), which spread through the English word telephone after Alexander Graham Bell's patent.[2][3][4] GRADIT and Wiktionary analyse it as an Italian compound of tele- and -fono, modelled on the English and French words.[5][1] GRADIT dates the English word from 1866.[5]

Prati notes that the French word (1834) was first the name Sudré gave to his acoustic signalling system, and was then applied to Bell's apparatus of 1876, which Antonio Meucci had invented earlier.[6] The Greek element had already formed telescopio in 1611, the model for the modern compounds.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the title of Francesco Nonnis-Marzano's Descrizione ed uso del telefono (Sassari, 1878), for the apparatus that carries the voice at a distance by electric current.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Derivatives followed quickly: telefonico and telefonista in 1882, telefonare by 1886, when Rigutini noted that the verb had recently arisen in Tuscany, and telefonata in 1918.[7][2] Telefonia is older, from 1829, when it meant speaking from afar by raising the voice or with a speaking-trumpet.[7]

The word came to mean the apparatus, the service and the telephone system as a whole, and also a telephone number (mi dai il tuo telefono?).[5][9][4] The mobile telephone is telefono cellulare, colloquially telefonino (1991).[10][2] In the itinerants' slang Prati records, the telephone was orecchione.[6]

Timeline

  • 1829 – Telefonia is recorded in the sense “speaking from afar”.[7]
  • 1834 – French téléphone is used by Sudré for his acoustic system.[6]
  • 1866 – English telephone is recorded.[5]
  • 1878 – Nonnis-Marzano's Descrizione ed uso del telefono is published at Sassari.[7]
  • 1882 – Telefonico and telefonista appear.[7]
  • 1886 – Telefonare is noted as a new word in Tuscany.[7]
  • 1991 – Telefonino is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The telephone, the system that carries the voice at a distance by turning sound into electric signals; the apparatus with a receiver and a microphone: Rispondi al telefono![5][3][10]
  2. The telephone line and service of a home or office, including its bill.[5][3][4]
  3. Telephony, telephone communication as a whole: la storia del telefono.[5][4]
  4. (elliptical) A telephone number.[9]

Word family

  • telefonare
  • telefonata
  • telefonico
  • telefonino
  • telefonista
  • telefonia

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include numero di telefono, colpo di telefono (a short call, after French coup de téléphone), telefono cellulare, telefono pubblico and telefono rosso, the hot line.[5][10][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 983
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Telefono.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/telefono. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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