Is a phonograph a gramophone? - Questions of Terminology
There is quite some discussion on what the difference between a phonograph and a gramophone is. I think that the explanations that exist in parallel to each other all seem to have a correct storyline at its basis, which means that they aren't mutually exclusive. The use of terminology in relation to the phonograph (and the gramophone for that matter) is just not uniform. There are both historic and contemporary differences and similarities based on both etymological, geographic and legal grounds. What's in a word: on the etymology of it all The term phonograph was derived from Greek. Basically it is made up out of the words φωνή ( phonē , "sound" or "voice") and γραφή ( graphē , "writing"). One could therefor state that phonograph literally means "sound writer". Similarly, the word gramophone knows its roots in the Greek γράμμα ( gramma, "letter") and φωνή ( phōnē ). Similar to the word phonograph, gramop...