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Origin and history of telly

telly(n.)

chiefly British English shortening of television, attested by 1942. "Billboard" headlines used tele by 1936 as a shortening of television.

also from 1942

Entries linking to telly

television(n.)

1907, in reference to a theoretical system to transmit moving images over telegraph or telephone wires; formed in English or borrowed from French télévision; see tele- + vision.

Television is not impossible in theory. In practice it would be very costly without being capable of serious application. But we do not want that. On that day when it will be possible to accelerate our methods of telephotography by at least ten times, which does not appear to be impossible in the future, we shall arrive at television with a hundred telegraph wires. Then the problem of sight at a distance will without doubt cease to be a chimera. ["Telegraphing Pictures" in Windsor Magazine, vol. xxvi, June-November 1907]

Other proposals for the name of a then-hypothetical technology for sending pictures over distance were telephote (1880) and televista (1904). The successful technology was developed in the 1920s and '30s. Nativized in German as Fernsehen. Shortened form TV is from 1948; tee-vee by 1949. The meaning "a television set" is from 1941. Meaning "television as a medium" is from 1927. For consumers of it, televiewer (1935) and televisioner (1928) were tried.

Television is the first truly democratic culture — the first culture available to everyone and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want. [Clive Barnes, New York Times, Dec. 30, 1969]
If you want to have fun come home with me
You can stay all night and play with my TV
TV is the thing this year, this year
TV is the thing this year
Radio was great, now it's out of date
TV is the thing this year.
[recorded by Dinah Washington, released 1953]
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    Trends of telly

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    receiver
    mid-14c., receivour (mid-13c. as a surname, probably in the "government clerk" sense), "a recipient; a receiver (of stolen goods); person who knowingly harbors criminals," also "government official appointed to collect or receive money due," agent noun from receive, or from Old F
    set
    Middle English setten, from Old English settan (transitive) "cause to sit; make or cause to rest as on a seat; cause to be put, placed, or seated;" also "put in a definite place," also "arrange, fix adjust; fix or appoint (a time) for some affair or transaction," and "cause (thou
    box
    "rectangular wooden container," usually with a lid, Old English box, also the name of a type of shrub, from Late Latin buxis, from Greek pyxis "boxwood," pyxion "writing table, box," made of boxwood, from pyxos "box tree," which is of uncertain origin. Beekes suggests a loan-word
    tube
    1610s, from French tube (15c.), from Latin tubus "tube, pipe," a word of unknown origin. The London subway was christened the Twopenny Tube by 1900 (H.D. Browne, in the "Londoner" of June 30); tube for "cylindrical railway tunnel" is attested from 1847. The meaning "TV as a mediu
    goggle
    1530s, from Middle English gogelen "to roll (the eyes) about" (late 14c.), influenced by Middle English gogel-eyed "squint-eyed," also, due to being used incorrectly in a translation from Latin, "one-eyed" (late 14c.), of uncertain origin. It has been suggested that it is a frequ
    raspberry
    a fruit of various plants of the genus Rubus, 1620s, earlier raspis berry (1540s), a word of obscure origin. Possibly it is from raspise "a sweet rose-colored wine" (mid-15c.), from Anglo-Latin vinum raspeys, which is itself of uncertain origin. Connection to Old French raspe, Me
    dub
    "give a name to," originally "make a knight," from late Old English dubbian "knight by ceremonially striking with a sword" (11c.), a word perhaps borrowed from Old French aduber "equip with arms, adorn" (11c.) which is of uncertain origin, probably Germanic, but there are phoneti
    debacle
    "disaster," 1848, from French débâcle "downfall, collapse, disaster" (17c.), a figurative use, literally "breaking up (of ice on a river) in consequence of a rise in the water," extended to the violent flood that follows when the river ice melts in spring; from débâcler "to free,

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