20 lines
3.1 KiB
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20 lines
3.1 KiB
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>email</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../E.html" title="E"/><link rel="previous" href="EMACS.html" title="EMACS"/><link rel="next" href="emoticon.html" title="emoticon"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">email</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="EMACS.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">E</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="emoticon.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="email"/><dt xmlns="" id="email"><b>email</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/ee<65>mayl/</span></dt></dt><dd><p> (also written ‘e-mail’ and ‘E-mail’)</p></dd><dd><p> 1. <span class="grammar">n.</span> Electronic mail
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automatically passed through computer networks and/or via modems over
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common-carrier lines. Contrast <a href="../S/snail-mail.html"><i class="glossterm">snail-mail</i></a>,
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<a href="../P/paper-net.html"><i class="glossterm">paper-net</i></a>, <a href="../V/voice-net.html"><i class="glossterm">voice-net</i></a>. See
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<a href="../N/network-address.html"><i class="glossterm">network address</i></a>. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. <span class="grammar">vt.</span> To send electronic
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mail.</p></dd><dd><p>Oddly enough, the word <span class="firstterm">emailed</span>
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is actually listed in the OED; it means “<span class="quote">embossed (with a raised
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pattern) or perh. arranged in a net or open work</span>”. A use from 1480
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is given. The word is probably derived from French <span class="firstterm"><EFBFBD>maill<EFBFBD></span> (enameled) and related to
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Old French <span class="firstterm">emmaille<EFBFBD>re</span>
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(network). A French correspondent tells us that in modern French,
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‘email’ is a hard enamel obtained by heating special paints in
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a furnace; an ‘emailleur’ (no final e) is a craftsman who makes
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email (he generally paints some objects (like, say, jewelry) and cooks them
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in a furnace).</p><p>There are numerous spelling variants of this word. In Internet
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traffic up to 1995, ‘email’ predominates, ‘e-mail’
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runs a not-too-distant second, and ‘E-mail’ and
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‘Email’ are a distant third and fourth.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="EMACS.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../E.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="emoticon.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">EMACS<EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>emoticon</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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