filatelie

Concepts

philately

stamp-collecting

collection

stamp collecting

postal history

Synonyms

postzegelkunde

Translations

Philatelie

philatélie

filatelia

filatelia

Briefmarkenkunde

filatelia

Briefmarkensammeln

pulculuk

φιλοτελισμός

Sammlung

pul kolleksiyonculuğu

filateli

collection de timbres

Etymology

1865, from French philatélie, coined by French stamp collector Georges Herpin (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 pre-paid by the sender, thus the letters were "carriage-free".