Hi everyone! We are one episode away from our 300th one and I'm going to celebrate by giving to one of you out there, a little gift with your favourite Greek word from this podcast, written on it. This is how it works, email me your favourite word at yourgreeksunday@gmail.com with your name and the country you're listening from and I'll do a hat-draw and announce the winner on Sunday July 6th. If you already know what your favourite episode is, great! Send me an email right away. If you need more time to revisit the episodes and decide later, you have two whole weeks to do so! The deadline is the 1st of July, That's a Tuesday. For now, on with our episode!
Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!
I honestly didn't expect to find so much interesting information about today's word. It's one of those that stayed intact since put together but the progress, inventiveness and global collaboration is outstanding! Τέλε (tele) in ancient Greek , meant 'something far away' . Γραφείν (grafin) is the ancient greek infinitive meaning 'to write'. The combined word means 'writing over distance' and it's a practice that started with smoke signals, fires on to wers, flags on ships and as we became more industrious we have: in 1791 the Chappe brothers of France inventing what was called a two-flag semaphore. A complex construction of small flags and poles to indicate letters and numbers that would be put on top of a tower and could be read from afar. Then in 1795, George Murray of England would invent a shutter system, where opening and closing six shutters in different ways, read as letters to the person watching from far away. That system took over America where there are still places called 'signal hill' where shutters used to be placed. And then, electricity got established and with it, an invention upgraded step by step by different people, in different places and if I may add, very quickly! In 1800 Alessandro Volta of Italy discovering the voltaic cell and how to power devices with electricity. Hans Christian Orsted of Denmark, in 1820 discovering the electric needle and how to carry electric current without depending on the weather being clear. William sturgeon of Britain, five years later, in 1825 discovering the multiturn electromagnet. In 1831 Michael Faraday of England with Joseph Henry from the states, refining and electromagnetic power to make it stable and possible to power devices. And lastly, Sir William Forthgill Cooke and Sir Charles Wheatstone obtaining the patent. So, you see, the word might have started as an idea in Greece and from Latin and French came to English but it took years of collaborations and building upon other people's ideas, carrying on inventing and perfecting until we had a working ΤΗΛΕΓΡΑΦΟΣ/TELEGRAPH
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