Fun with etymology

In Hebrew, we have an expression "radiophonic voice". If someone has a radiophonic voice, it means they have a pleasant voice and good diction, much like a radio announcer would.

This expression makes sense to me, and I was kinda surprised when I learned that it didn’t exist in English.

But then I thought about the origin of the word radio/radius in "radiophonic voice", and realized it made quite a funny journey.

It used to mean “the spoke of a wheel”; then

Because the spoke of a wheel goes from the center to the edge of the circle, it also meant what we call radius, which is the abstract geometric idea of a line from a center of a circle to its edge. (Note: I may be wrong the order of these two first meanings.) Then

Because electromagnetic radiation comes from a center point outwards in a sphere, it was given the name “radiation”. It’s interesting to note that the international sign for radiation is quite similar to the aforementioned wheel.

Because electromagnetic radiation comes from a center point outwards in a sphere, it was given the name “radiation”. It’s interesting to note that the international sign for radiation is quite similar to the aforementioned wheel. Because of the name “radiation”, the device used for listening to music using electromagnetic radiation was called a radio; and

“Radiophonic voice” came to mean (in Hebrew) a voice that’s pleasant enough that you’d want to listen to it on the radio.

Quite an interesting journey through the ages from “spoke of a wheel” to “pleasant voice” :)

Ram Rachum I’m a software developer based in Israel, specializing in the Python programming language. I write about technology, programming, startups, Python, and any other thoughts that come to my mind. I’m sometimes available for freelance work in Python and Django. My expertise is in developing a product from scratch.

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