Where does “radio” come from?
radio (Romanian) comes from German Radio, from English radio, from English radiotelegraphy, from English telegraphy, from English Telegraph, from French télégraphe, from French télé-, from Ancient Greek τῆλε — whale, sea monster; abyss.
radio (Romanian): radio
Definitions
- radio
Ancestry of “radio”, step by step
radio traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via German Radio
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | German | Radio | radio technology that allows broadcasters to transmit audio programs; such programs |
| 2 | English | radio | The technology that allows for the transmission... |
| 3 | English | radiotelegraphy | The process and techniques of sending telegrams... |
| 4 | English | telegraphy | communication at a distance by means of the... |
| 5 | English | Telegraph | any process for transmitting arbitrarily long messages over a long distance using a symbolic code |
| 6 | French | télégraphe | telegraph |
| 7 | French | télé- | tele- |
| 8 | Ancient Greek | τῆλε | far off, afar, far away |
| 9 | Latin | commūnicāre | — |
| 10 | Latin | commūnis | common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together |
| 11 | Old Latin | com(m)oinis | — |
| 12 | Proto-Italic | kommoinis | common |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱom-moy-ni- | held in common |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 16 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 17 | Russian | кит | whale; genitive plural of ки́та |
| 18 | Old Church Slavonic | китъ | whale |
| 19 | Ancient Greek | κῆτος | whale, sea monster; abyss |
via French radio
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | radio | radio, tuner |
| 2 | French | radiodiffusion | broadcasting |
| 3 | French | diffusion | broadcasting, showing; dissemination, diffusion;... |
| 4 | Latin | diffusio | spreading out, increase in extent or breadth |
| 5 | Latin | diffundō | to diffuse, scatter |
| 6 | Latin | fundō | to pour out, shed |
| 7 | Latin | fundus | bottom; farm; piece of land; estate; ground |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰudʰmḗn | bottom |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewbʰ- | deep |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |