You can find references all over the net that Hugo Gernsback, the guy who also coined the term scientifiction which evolved into science fiction, coined the term television. I found one page that said that he later admitted that a “Frenchman” had an earlier claim.
But it’s hard to find out when he supposedly did this. The earliest hard number I found was 1914, which seems late even for him.
And it can’t be right. The August 2009 Scientific American reprinted in its 100 years ago section an article on “tele-vision” from the August 1909 issue. The term wasn’t in quotes and from context it was obviously in common use then.
The Online Etymology Dictionary gives a 1907 origin but no cite at all as to who or where.
I hope samclem sees this thread, but there are a few other word mavens out there. Any solid leads?
I wonbder if “The Frenchman” he referenced might be Jules Verne. Verne used a similar device in his novel Carpathian Castle (1893), but he called it a “telephote”. The term was used again in a later story, but that was written , it is now known, but his son, Michel.
Early mechanical television (which I’ve been reading about lately) is often called televisor to distinguish it from cathode-ray TV, but in the early days, I think it was called television. I have no idea who coined the term.
I found the 1907 cite in the New York Times for February 24, 1907. It’s an article on sending pictures by telegraph and says that:
The word’s in quotes and has an explanation. So it probably was being used in technical circles but not known to the public. A technical cite from 1906 or earlier is certainly possible.
It’s extremely doubtful that Gernsback, the science fiction enthusiast, would refer to Verne as a “Frenchman” rather than by name. More likely it was some French inventor, as forgotten today as the Professor Arthur Korn of Munich featured in the Times article.
Depends on the context – Gernsback might have been trying to be coy or something. Certainly he knew who Verne was (and was instrumental in bringing him to a wider American audience), and could perhaps count on his readers knowing that an filling in the blank.
The first known use of the word “television” was by the Russian scientist Constantin Perskyi in a paper delivered in Paris in 1900. While Perskyi wasn’t French, the paper being delivered in Paris may have accounted for the confusion.
Before Perskyi, various German papers refered to “Fernsehen” which was eventually translated into “television” (instead of “teloscope”, “teleography,” “televisor” or any of the other terms that were used in the early days.) For that matter, maybe someone misheard Fernsehen as “Frenchman.”
Oh, very nice cite. And that it comes from the 1900 Paris world’s fair is doubly wonderful since I’m researching the new technologies that were introduced there.
My Ancient Greek instructor in college pleaded with us students, if we ever had the opportunity to coin a word, **not **to follow the example of the coiner of “television” by mixing roots from Greek (tele, far) and Latin (vision, vision). He said all Greek or all Latin was fine, but not a mongrelized mixture like television.
Hmmm. I note that the Gernsback article there is entitled “The Television and the Telephot”. He’s clearly comparing the real television to Verne’s fictional device.