Telopsis Society

[Andrew Davie]

Hybrid Words
Of course I am always horrified when the Latin-English word "data" is used as if it were singular. I am equally horrified at the continued creeping into our language of hybrid words. If we are not very careful one of the most objectionable hybrids so far will become fixed in our vocabulary. About a year ago when the word was first used I made a vigorous protest against it in the Washington daily press.
The word I have in view now is "television." Can anything worse be imagined? Happily a hundred years and more ago both our scientific and literary scholars knew a great deal more about Greek than they do about it at the present time. In fact, it may be said that the study of Greek to-day is a lost art, and the result will be further inroads into the realm of using Greek names, or at least parts of Greek names for new diseases and new discoveries. Suppose William Cullen bryant had not been the master of the Greek tongue, he would have named his immortal poem Thanatovision instead of its appropriate name "Thanatopsis." I proposed either the word teloptiky or telopsis which would have brought it more into harmony with William Cullen Bryant nomenclature. Can we not save the language yet, with science leading in the fight? Let us form a Telopsis Society and pledge every purist in the country to join in our campaign.
H.W.Wiley, "Science", July 6, 1928.

[DrZarkov]

The man is absolutely right! Against it, "telopsis" sounds like a desease. That's why television had been called in Germany "electric telescope" (Nipkow), Telehor (Mihaly) or later the common word "Fernsehen", which is still the common word in the German language. Unfortunally "far watcher" or "far watching" sounds much worse, and "seeing by wireless" is much too long. That's why the Germany "tragbarer Funkfernsprecher" (mobile telephone) did not become populair and the silly word "Handy" is in use in Germany. And here we are: We use such a stupid word, and the english speaking people are still alive. The ancient greeks and romans are dead, they don't care if we rape their languages!

[Stephen]

Perhaps inventions should have a name in the language of their inventors. With respect to television, the inventor seems to be in dispute. Certainly Paul Nipkow was the first to propose transmitting moving images bit by bit over a single wire, although Alexander Bain, a Scot, suggested doing the same thing with fixed images, that is, facsimile, quite a bit earlier.

John Logie Baird was the first to actually transmit and reproduce greyscale moving images over a single wire, as well as going on to propose and demostrate flat panel displays, colour television (including field, line and dot sequential systems), 3-D television, interlacing, embedded television synchronisation signal generation and detection and the first colour CRT.

So, I suppose television might best have the German name Fernseh ("see far") if you think that Herr Nipkow was the inventor. If you regard John Logie Baird as the true inventor, as I do, you might describe it as "signal motion" in Scots, or "mense mudge", which words we can combine as mensemudge. The name "Television Society" in Scots would then be "Mensemudge Common Weel".

[Dave Moll]

Having looked up the word opsis (οψσις) in my Greek lexicon, I see that it means the look/appearance of a thing. Teleopsis would therefore mean the distant appearance of a thing - not quite the same as seeing at a distance.

Of course, the verb skopeo (σκοπεω), I look - the origin of scope - had already been purloined centuries earlier by the astronomers. There is, however an alternative - blepo (βλεπω) with the same meaning, but somehow teleblep doesn't quite have the right ring as a Greek equivalent of Fernseh.

[DrZarkov]

Why not the other way and use a whole latin word like proculvision or remotovision?

[Stephen]

Why not the other way and use a whole latin word like proculvision or remotovision?

Yes, I like proculvision! Others have suggested proculvision as well. See http://www.mootgame.com/ballast/l62.html and http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4108 ... 82,00.html .