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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