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, gramophone directly refers to the idea of "written sound". 

Etymologically, there is not much of a difference at all. Arguably, we could call all devices that record and reproduce sound a phonograph or a gramophone for that matter, but the words seem to be used in different ways historically as well as today.

Today's phonograph and gramophone

Generally, the word phonograph has come to be an umbrella term for all historic technologies of sound recording that involve audio-frequency modulations of a physical trace or groove.

The term gramophone usually refers to a certain type of phonograph today, being an early acoustic phonograph in which the stylus vibrated a diaphragm which produced sound waves, which in there turn were amplified and send into open air. Stereotypically, we think of a flaring horn, although a sound box is also generally accepted or stethoscope-like earphones when talking about very early models. Often the concept of the gramophone is also connected to a mechanical winding principal, although we accept some of them to be fuelled electrically rather than manually.  

Later electric phonographs, we usually refer to as record-players or turntables. Only in semantic and  discussions from a historical perpsective, one considers these still phonographs. Let's face it, nobody ever steps into a shop and asks for a phonograph when looking for a record-player. However, by definition all these terms resort under the umbrella term phonograph as they involve a similar mechanism to that of the original technologies.

Semantics through time 

The usage of the terminology concerning phonographs and gramophones and any later type of 'phonograph' differ substantially from culture to culture and even in the English-speaking world. Maybe I can get back to that later. However, sticking to the facts there is a general difference between what was historically intended to be called a phonograph and a gramophone. 

At that time, another umbrella term was widely used to refer to devices that (re)produced sound and speech - sometimes just by simulating the way production and articulation mechanisms of the human vocal chords, lips, tongue,... namely the talking machine.

Thomas Edison with his 2nd phonograph in 1878.
(Library of Congress)

The phonograph was one of those talking machines. Invented and patented in 1877 by Thomas Edison, the device's purpose was the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound. Edison's phonograph wasn't the first talking machine, but, it was the first patented means of recording and playing back sounds. For over a decade three types of materials would be used for both the record and playback functions of the phonograph. At first, there was tin foil, a bit later on the paraffin-coated cardboard tube was, and eventually - in 1990 - the wax-cylinder. The invention of the wax-cylinder took sound-recording out of the hands of the inventor and sound researchers and started the actual commercial diffusion of the phonograph. This gave way to an even wider investment in phonographic recording techniques, giving rise to both intellectual and practical ideas, suggestions and modifications on the original invention. 

Emile Berliner with prototypes of his gramophone in 1921.
(Library of Congress)

During that evolution, German Emile Berliner moved across the Atlantic and settled in Washington. In 1988, he filed for a patent that concerned another type of talking machine called the gramophone. Instead of using a cylinder, this device made use of a flat recording disc and a stylus. 

So, in conclusion it can be said that the original difference between the patented phonograph and the patented gramophone in 1888 was in its recording and playback technique: while the phonograph used a cylinder in which a stylus moved up and down in vertical cut-recording - also called hill-and-dale, the gramophone had a flat-recording technique in which the stylus cut a spiral groove from side to side in lateral cut-recording. 

Just a quick note: in the late 19th and early 20th century other patents and brand names came to the foreground that became synonymous with cylinder and disc machines similar to the phonograph and the gramophone. The Graphophone and the Zonophone were just some other talking machines on the market.