Philately Definition

Origin of Philately

• 1865, from French philatélie, coined by French stamp collector Georges Herpin (in Le Collectionneur de Timbres-poste, Nov. 15, 1864) from Ancient Greek φιλο- (philo-, “love of") + ἀτέλεια (atelÄ«a), the closest word he could find in Ancient Greek to the concept of "postage stamp", from á¼€- (a-, “without") + τέλος (telos, “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 pre-paid by the sender, thus the letters were "carriage-free".

  From Wiktionary

• French philatélie Greek phil-, philo- philo- Greek ateleia exemption from payment (because a postage stamp indicates prepayment of postage) (a- without a–¹) (telos tax, charge telə- in Indo-European roots)

  From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition