2818: Stamp Mania! Sep 7, 2024

Nowadays, it would seem preposterous to send a simple letter and make the recipient pay, though this does happen with some international duties. Historically, it was the job of the recipient to pay by default.

Aside from being a bit of trivia, it also helps to explain the origins of numerous stamp-related terminology. For instance, the modern term for stamp-collecting (except for just saying that), is ‘philately’, pronounced /fɪˈlæt.ə.li/, made up by Georges Herpin (as philatélie). Greek does not really have a word for ‘postage stamp’* so he used ἀτέλεια (atéleia) meaning “no tax(-ness)”, in reference to the stamp’s use as a means to show the duty was pre-paid. Another case would be the verb ‘to frank’ as in to stamp a letter as prepaid, from the sense of frank as free. 

*The previous term for stamp collecting was timbromania or variously timbrology, also from Greek via French meaning “stamp mania” but this was from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon) meaning ‘drum’—related to ‘timbre,’ ‘tambour’, ‘timpani’, and ‘tympanum’—just as stamp (related to ‘stomp’) has to do with pressing ink onto a surface.