philately

Meaning

Noun

• Stamp collecting.
• The study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.

Origin

• 1865, borrowed from French philatélie, coined by French stamp collector Georges Herpin (in Le Collectionneur de Timbres-poste, Nov. 15, 1864) from Ancient Greek φιλέω + ἀτέλεια, the closest word he could find in Ancient Greek to the concept of “postage stamp”, from ἀ- + τέλος. 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 pre-paid by the sender, thus the letters were “carriage-free”.