- camera
- 16c., in Mod.L. camera obscura "dark chamber" (a black box with a lens that could project images of external objects), from L. camera "vaulted room," from Gk. kamara "vaulted chamber," from PIE base *kam- "to arch." Contrasted with camera lucida (L., "light chamber"), which uses prisms to produce an image on paper beneath the instrument, which can be traced. Shortened to camera when modern photography began, 1840 (extended to television filming devices 1928). Camera-shy is from 1922.
- camera obscura
- 1725, "a darkened room;" c.1730, "a device for project pictures;" see camera.
- Kodak
- brand of camera, arbitrary coinage by U.S. inventor George Eastman (1854-1932), U.S. trademark reg. Sept. 4, 1888. In 1890s, practically synonymous with camera. Kodachrome, reg. trademark for a method of color photography, 1915.
- pan (v.)
- "follow with a camera," 1913 shortening of panoramic, from panoramic camera (1878). Meaning "to swing from one object to another in a scene" is from 1931. Panavision (1955) is a proprietary name of a type of wide-screen lens.
- comrade
- c.1591, from M.Fr. camarade, from Sp. camarada "chamber mate," originally "chamberful," from L. camera (see camera). In Sp., a collective noun referring to one's company. In 17c., sometimes jocularly misspelled comrogue. Related: comradely (1880).
- bicameral
- 1832, from bi- "two" + L.L. camera "chamber" (see camera).
- unicameral
- 1853, from uni- "one" + L.L. camera "chamber" (see camera).
- chamberlain
- early 13c., from O.Fr. chamberlenc, from Frank. *kamerling, from L. camera (see camera) + dim. suffix -ling.
- chamber
- early 13c., from O.Fr. chambre, from L.L. camera "a chamber, room" (see camera). Chamber-pot is from 1560s; chambermaid is from 1580s.
- Instamatic
- 1962, proprietary name (reg. Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y.) for a type of self-loading camera.
- Polaroid
- material which in thin sheets produces a high degree of plane polarization of light passing through it, 1936, prop. name (Sheet Polarizer Co., Union City, N.J.). As a type of camera producing prints in a short time, it is attested from 1961.
- camcorder
- 1982, from camera and recorder.
- photocopy (v.)
- 1924 in the sense of "make a photographic reproduction," from photo- "light" + copy (q.v.). The usual modern meaning arose 1942 with the advent of xerography. The noun is recorded from 1934. Photostat (1911) was a type of copying machine (trademark Commercial Camera Company, Providence, R.I.) whose name became a generic noun and verb (1914) for "photocopy."
- panorama
- 1796, "a painting on a revolving cylindrical surface," coined c.1789 by inventor, Irish artist Robert Barker, lit. "a complete view," from pan- "all" (q.v.) + Gk. horama "a view," from horan "to look, see." Meaning "comprehensive survey" is 1801; panoramic is first recorded 1813; panoramic camera is attested from 1878.
- project (v.)
- c.1477, "to plan," from L. projectus (see project (n.)). Sense of "to stick out" is from 1718. Meaning "to cast an image on a screen" is recorded from 1865. Psychoanalytical sense, "to convey to others," is first recorded 1895 (implied in projective). Projection is from 1557, originally cartographical, "drawing of a map or chart according to scale;" Projector "one who forms a project" is from 1596; in the optical, camera sense it is from 1884; projectionist is from 1922.
- roll (v.)
- c.1300 in intrans. sense of "to move by rotating;" late 14c. as "to move (something) by turning it over and over," from roll (n.).
"The rollyng stone neuer gatherth mosse." [John Heywood, "A dialogue conteinying the nomber in effect of all the proverbes in the Englishe tongue," 1546]
Of eyes, from 1510s. Of a movie camera, "to start filming," from 1938. Sense of "to rob a stuporous drunk" is from 1873, from the action required to get to his pockets. To roll with the punches is a metaphor from boxing (1940). Rolling pin is recorded from late 15c. Heads will roll is a Hitlerism:"If our movement is victorious there will be a revolutionary tribunal which will punish the crimes of November 1918. Then decapitated heads will roll in the sand." [1930]
- monitor
- 1546, "senior pupil at a school charged with keeping order, etc.," from L. monitor "one who reminds, admonishes, or checks," from monere "to admonish, warn, advise," related to memini "I remember, I am mindful of," and to mens "mind," from PIE base *men- "to think" (see mind (n.)). The lizard so called because it is supposed to give warning of crocodiles (1826). Meaning "squat, slow-moving type of ironclad warship" (1862) so called from name of the first vessel of this design, chosen by Capt. Ericsson because it was meant to "admonish" the Confederate leaders in the U.S. Civil War. Broadcasting sense of "a device to continuously check on the technical quality of a transmission" (1931) led to special sense of "a TV screen displaying the picture from a particular camera." The verb is attested from 1924.