" semaphores "

[Noun]  | "sem*a*phore" | \ ˈse-mə-ˌfȯr \

1: an apparatus for visual signaling (as by the position of one or more movable arms)

2: a system of visual signaling by two flags held one in each hand

Origin: 1815 ;

 Borrowed from French sémaphore, from Greek sêma "sign, signal" + -phoros {see: |-phore|-phore} {mat|semantic|};

  * Note : The French word flouts the rules of Greco-Latin word formation, according to which the correct outcome would be sématophore. The genesis of sémaphore is somewhat obscure. Early on the word is associated with an innovative system of optical telegraphy used for coastal communication, based on the inventions of Claude Chappe developed in France in the 1790's. This revised system, employing a mast with three movable arms, was the work of Charles Depillon (1768-1805), a retired artillery officer and farmer. It was described in the article "Nouveaux Télégraphes, á l'usage de la Marine, de l'Intérieur, et des Armées," Annales des Arts et Manufactures, vol. 4 (4 nivôse An IX [December 25, 1800], pp. 90-112). An offprint of this article is archived in the Service historique de la Marine in Vincennes, France, along with a letter written by Depillon dated June 11, 1801. (For this and other bibliographic details, see: François Cabane, Charles Depillon (1768-1805), Inventeur des Sémaphores côtiers, Plouzané: Ifremer, 2007.) The word sémaphore is not used in the article, and apparently not in the letter, so that there is no strong indication that it was coined by Depillon. It is used in Signaux de la ligne sémaphorique établie sur les côtes de l'Océan et de la Méditerranée (Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1806), an official description of the semaphore system published by order of the naval minister Denis Decrès. According to Cabane, the word sémaphores is written on the cover of the book as well as on the cover of the accompanying atlas.;

[Verb]  | "semaphore" 

1: to convey (information) by or as if by semaphore

2: to send signals by or as if by semaphore

Origin: 1838 ;

 Derivative of {see: |semaphore:1|semaphore:1};

[Noun]  | "semaphores"