English
phone
Phone is a clipping of telephone, from French téléphone, whose second element is from Ancient Greek φωνή ‘sound’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to shine’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰōnā́reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφωνήphōnḗ‘sound’
- Frenchc. 1600–presenttéléphone
- English1500–presenttelephone
- Englishearliest quotation 1905phone
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to shine’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰōnā́reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφωνήphōnḗ‘sound’
- Frenchc. 1600–presenttéléphone
- English1500–presenttelephone
- Englishearliest quotation 1905phone
Earliest quotation: 1905, Patrick Woodard, Woodard vs. Cooney: “Well, the first I knew, Mr. Cooney phoned he…”
first attested first attested in 1884 (as stated in the etymology)
The story
Clipping of telephone; first attested in 1884.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’
focus, professor, famous, fuel, ben, favor, favourite, ban, fantasy, fate, fancy, fame, phase, fatal, bee, fairy, fabulous, infant, emphasis, profession, photographer, abandon, beck, phenomenon, confession, confess, phantom, beacon, eff, fab, fay, fable, boon, foyer, banish, buoy, prophetic, epiphany, profess, fantasia, 124 more
through Ancient Greek φωνή ‘sound’
Another origin of phone
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to speak’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰoh₂-néh₂reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰōnā́reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφωνήphōnḗ‘sound’
- Englishtodayphone
Today it means
noun A device for transmitting conversations and other sounds in real time across distances, now often a small portable unit also capable of running software etc.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- / phone