philately: [19] When a Monsieur Herpin, a French stamp-collector, was looking for an impressive and learned-sounding term for his hobby, he was hampered by the fact that the Greeks and Romans did not have postage stamps, and therefore there was no classical term for them. So he decided to go back a stage beyond stamps, to the days of franking with a post-mark. In France, such letters were stamped franc de port ‘carriage-free’, and the nearest he could get to this in Greek was atelés ‘free of charge’, a compound formed from a- ‘not’ and télos ‘payment’.
Using the Greek prefix phil- ‘loving, love of’ (as in philosophy and a wide range of other English words) he created philatélie, which made its first appearance in English in 1865.
philately (n.)
"stamp-collecting," 1865, from French philatélie, coined by French stamp collector Georges Herpin (in "Le Collectionneur de Timbres-poste," Nov. 15, 1864), from Greek phil- "loving" (see philo-) + ateleia "exemption from tax," the closest word Herpin could find in ancient Greek to the concept of "postage stamp" (from a- "without" + telos "tax;" see toll (n.)). 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."
It is a pity that for one of the most popular scientific pursuits one of the least popularly intelligible names should have been found. [Fowler]
Stampomania (1865) also was tried. Stamp-collecting is from 1862.
Related: Philatelic; philatelism; philatelist.
实用例句
1. The world of philately soon got to know the rings.
集邮界很快就知道了奥运五环标志.
来自互联网
2. Value - added tax is levied on the production and allocation of philately commodities.
集邮商品的生产、调拨征收增值税.
来自互联网
3. She said before'actress philately'is false, not the letter.
她之前讲的 ‘ 女星集邮 ’ 是假的, 不可以信.
来自互联网
4. Ive always thought philately would be an interesting hobby.
我总是认为集邮是一项有趣的嗜好.
来自互联网
5. Philately, pingpong, roller skating, reading and music.
