Wiktionary

philately

English edit

Etymology edit

1865, borrowed from French philatélie, coined by French stamp collector Georges Herpin (in Le Collectionneur de Timbres-poste, Nov. 15, 1864) from Ancient Greek φιλέω (philéō, “I love”) + ἀτέλεια (atéleia), the closest word he could find in Ancient Greek to the concept of “postage stamp”, from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + τέλος (télos, “tax”). This word serves as a reminder of the original function of postage stamps, now often forgotten: the cost of letter-carrying formerly was paid by the recipient; stamps indicated it had been pre-paid by the sender, thus the letters were “carriage-free”.[1]

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /fɪˈlæt.ə.li/
  • Audio (UK)(file)

Noun edit

philately (countable and uncountable, plural philatelies)

  1. Stamp collecting.
  2. The study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

References edit

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “philately”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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