téléphone French · revision 16039

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1809, Chladni}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /te.le.fɔn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''téléphone''' ''m'' (plural téléphones)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was formed, in several languages, from the Greek elements [[télé-]] ([[grc|τῆλε|tr=têle|t=far off]]) and [[-phone]] ([[grc|φωνή|tr=phōnḗ|t=sound, voice]]), on the model of [[télégraphe]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|13/1, 163a) It was first a French word (1809), then a Germanism (1866) for the magnetic apparatus devised by Philipp Reis in 1861 and called “Telefon”, and in 1876 it was taken again from [[en|telephone]], the name of Alexander Graham Bell's invention shown in Philadelphia that year.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Chladni's ''Traité d'acoustique'' (1809) has it for a device for speaking at a distance through speaking tubes;^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) in 1836 Sudre's ''téléphonie'' was a code of sounds for signalling.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ On 5 October 1876 the ''Journal des débats'' used it for the transmission of the voice by electric impulses, and, from 1879 it was the apparatus (Verne) and the network and its management (''Société générale des téléphones'').^(TLFi) Phrases followed: ''coup de téléphone'' (1906), ''numéro de téléphone'', ''téléphone arabe'' “grapevine” (1962) and ''téléphone rouge'', the hotline between the White House and the Kremlin (1971).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(Larousse) The spread of mobile phones from 1990 brought the object into the world of computing without changing the word.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1809 – In Chladni.^(TLFi)

+ * 1836 – Sudre's ''téléphonie''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1866 – Reis's ''Telefon''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 5 October 1876 – Bell's telephone, in the ''Journal des débats''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1879 – The apparatus, in Verne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1906 – ''Coup de téléphone''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1962 – ''Téléphone arabe''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1971 – ''Téléphone rouge''.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|telephone]], phone: ''décrocher le téléphone'', ''téléphone portable''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The telephone (system, network): ''avoir le téléphone'', ''numéro de téléphone'', ''au téléphone'': on the phone.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Coup de téléphone'': a phone call.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Téléphone arabe'': the grapevine, ''téléphone rouge'': hotline.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[téléphoner]]

+ * [[téléphonique]]

+ * [[téléphoniste]]

+ * [[téléphonie]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[télégraphe]]

+ * [[télé-]]

+ * [[-phone]]

+ * [[en|telephone]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}