Where does “speakerphone” come from?
Speakerphone comes from English speaker and phone, where phone derives from Ancient Greek φωνή, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰeh₂-.
speakerphone (English): A telephone with a microphone and loudspeaker...
Definitions
- A telephone with a microphone and loudspeaker...
Ancestry of “speakerphone”, step by step
speakerphone traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English phone
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | phone | A device for transmitting conversations and other... |
| 2 | English | telephone | A telecommunication device used for two-way... |
| 3 | French | téléphone | telephone; first-person singular present... |
| 4 | French | télé- | tele- |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | τῆλε | far off, afar, far away |
| 6 | Latin | commūnicāre | — |
| 7 | Latin | commūnis | common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together |
| 8 | Old Latin | com(m)oinis | — |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | kommoinis | common |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱom-moy-ni- | held in common |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 13 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 14 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 15 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 16 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 17 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 18 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 19 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via English speaker
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | speaker | One who speaks; Loudspeaker; Speakerphone |
| 2 | English | -ine | Of or pertaining to; Used to form demonyms;... |
| 3 | French | -ine | feminine singular of -in; female equivalent of... |
| 4 | French | -é | past participle root verb suffix of regular -er... |
| 5 | Middle French | -é | past participle root verb suffix of regular; -ed, -en, -n |
| 6 | Old French | -é | used to form past participles of regular -er... |
| 7 | Latin | -a | suffixed to the roots of verbs, forms agent... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -ā | Forms masculine agent nouns from prefixed or compounded bases |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -éh₂ | — |