philately
/fɪˈlæt.ə.li/ noun
Forms philatelies
Synonyms
Etymology
First use appears c. 1865. Borrowed from French philatélie, coined by French stamp collector Georges Herpin in 1864 (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 prepaid by the sender, and thus the letters were "carriage-free".
Webster’s 1913
- noun The collection of postage stamps of various issues.
Etymology [Philo- + Gr. frank to send free.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “philately”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details