Where does “telephone” come from?
Telephone comes from French téléphone, combining the combining form -phone from Ancient Greek φωνή meaning "sound" and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots kʷel-, bʰeh₂-, and bʰeh₂-s-ri-.
telephone (English): A telecommunication device used for two-way...
Definitions
- A telecommunication device used for two-way...
Ancestry of “telephone”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | téléphone | telephone; first-person singular present... |
| 2 | French | télé- | tele- |
| 3 | Ancient Greek | τῆλε | far off, afar, far away |
| 4 | Latin | commūnicāre | — |
| 5 | Latin | commūnis | common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together |
| 6 | Old Latin | com(m)oinis | — |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | kommoinis | common |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱom-moy-ni- | held in common |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 11 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 12 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 13 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 14 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 15 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |