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Stamp San Philately Herpin French Lovers Greek Meaning

Philately is the collection and study of postage stamps. The term was coined by George Herpin in the 19th century, combining the Greek 'phil-' (loving) with 'ateleia' (tax-exemption), referring to the love for stamps which previously required recipient payment.

Filatelia es el coleccionismo y estudio de sellos de correos. El término fue acuñado por George Herpin en el siglo XIX, combinando el griego 'phil-' (amor) con 'ateleia' (exención de impuestos), refiriéndose al amor por los sellos que antes requerían el pago del destinatario.

Word philately
Date May 21, 2017
Type noun
Syllables fuh-LAT-uh-lee
Etymology Who wouldn't love something tax free? George Herpin did. He was a French stamp fancier back in the 1860s, when stamps were a fairly new invention. Before stamps, the recipient of a letter—not the sender—had to pay the postage. Stamps forced the sender to foot the bill, and created a lot of stamp lovers among folks on the receiving end of the mail—and a mania for stamp collecting. Timbromania was toyed with as a term to affix to this new hobby—from the French word for stamp, timbre. But when Herpin suggested philatélie (anglicized to philately), combining the Greek root phil-, meaning "loving," with Greek ateleia, meaning "tax-exemption," stamp lovers everywhere took a fancy to it and the name stuck.
Examples "With philately, it's not just the stamp that makes it valuable, but often the cancellation mark. Also, errors are considered good things." — Nancy Kennedy, The Citrus County (Florida) Chronicle, 5 June 2015

"Evidently, however, there is still enough interest in philately that local, national and international stamp shows are still regularly happening. San Diego has a Philatelic Council and an annual San Diego-based Sandical stamp show." — Karen Pearlman, The San Diego Union Tribune, 26 May 2016
Definition : the collection and study of postage and imprinted stamps : stamp collecting

Tags: wordoftheday::noun

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