Etymology of a Telephone - Essay Example

It is used to convert waves into sound signals. In other words, it is used to transmit the voice from one end to another. The word telephone dates back to the 18th century when it was developed. The word telephone is a combination of different traditional languages. It is derived from the old language of Greek. The word telephone is made by combining two different words. These two words are tele and phone. The word tele in Greek means ‘far away’ and the word phone means ‘voice or sound’. Both these words combine to give the word telephone which was designed to transmit the voice of individuals to faraway places. The roots of the word ‘telephone’ are yet not specifically known. Even though it is assumed that French was the language that gave birth to the word ‘telephone’. Firstly the word ‘telephone’ was used for a gadget that produced sound waves. The gadget produced different frequencies of sound waves. This device was made by Sudre in 1828. The word telephone was initially used for this gadget but later on, was used for another device. This device was used in different ships to signal the other ships of their location. This instrument is also known as a signaling device in English. The telephone was the word given to this device as again the signals being transmitted by the ships were a way of communication between the ships. Similarly, after a certain span of years, a communication gadget was predicted by P. Reis in 1861. This communication tool was predicted to have the name of ‘telephone’ by P. Reis. In 1877 Graham Bell made his famous invention of a gadget through which people could transmit their voices. This gadget was later on named ‘telephone’ by Graham Bell himself in 1876. This word got its level of a verb in 1878. The verb ‘telephone’ means ‘to speak to someone by the use of telephone’. The word telephone can be defined as a gadget that is used to have telephonic conversations. It can be further divided into a verb a noun and an adjective. The verb of the word ‘telephone’ means to telephone a friend i.e. a particular action of calling a friend.

When we analyze a word from the etymological concept we need to know search out the origin of the word. As we use the word "Book", from an etymological point of view, the book was used as "* bōc" -"in Old English. bōc" is adopted from the Germanic word "*bōk-", which means "beech tree." In the same way, the old English form of the book, i.e. bōc has a Germanic origin, *bōk-ō, “written document, book.” 'Book' and 'beech' are twigs of the same tree. Both words have a Germanic origin, which is *bōk-, which means 'beech tree' from an Indo-European perspective. The meaning of book hence can be said as beech tree and it is because people of Germany, in early ages, used to write on the stripes of the beech tree. The same origins of 'book' are found in Latin. 'Liber' is the word for 'book' in Latin. 'Liber' meant 'bark', that is the smooth inner bark of a tree. Early Romans used to write and state on the bark of a tree and hence Liber was used to identify the thing we call "Book" in English these days.

Book refers to several papers printed, written, and blank or with images combined usually fastened or hinged at one side. Every paper of the book is known as a leaf and every side of the leaf is called a page. Books are meant to convey some idea or information. There are many kinds of books including, storybooks, novels, magazines, journals, etc. Books are available at the bookshops and libraries. People can purchase books from the book stores and borrow books for study purposes from libraries.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines the word 'disaster as "an occurrence causing widespread destruction and distress; a catastrophe" or "a grave misfortune." however the etymology of the word 'disaster' takes our attention to the early times when people used to draw the blames of misfortunes on the arrangements of stars.

In the late 16th century, the word 'disaster' first appeared in the Shakespeare work "King Lear". The word 'disaster' is adopted from the Italian word "disastro", which meant critical or terrible to one's stars'. This concept can further be explained and understood by studying the Latin origin of the word Astrum, which also exists in recent "star" word astronomy. The negative prefix 'dis' (also see 'dys', which means 'apart' or 'bad') is added to 'Astrum' (which means 'star') and passed on the thought that misfortune could be traced to the evil power of a star or planet.

It means an unpredicted natural or synthetic catastrophe of a large degree causing major material harm or damage, failure of life, or at times everlasting change to the natural atmosphere. Disaster can also be defined as an occasion causing huge loss, distress, or bad feeling of any sort. The Dutch word for disaster is a ramp, the German word is Disaster, the French call it désastre, an Italian word for disaster is disastro and Spanish call it desastre.