Photograph has the ph of Greek phi twice, and yet it is a Victorian invention. Sir John Herschel coined it in 1839, from photo-, "light," and -graph, "something written" — a thing written by light. Nobody in ancient Greece said it; Herschel simply built it from Greek parts, as scientists routinely did, because Greek elements combined cleanly and carried authority.
It beat a field of competitors. Photogene and heliograph were both proposed; photogram, modelled on telegram, was tried in 1859 and failed; sun-picture was an attempt to English it in 1846, and neo-Anglo-Saxonists who dislike classical borrowings still prefer sunprint. Herschel introduced photograph, photography and photographic together in a paper read to the Royal Society in March 1839. The word is a good reminder that a Greek spelling dates the parts, not the word.
photograph (n.) "a picture obtained by any process of photography," 1839, coined by English polymath and photography pioneer Sir John Herschel (son of the astronomer) from photo- "light" + -graph "something written." It won out over other suggestions, such as photogene and heliograph . Photogram (1859), based on telegram , did not catch on. Neo-Anglo-Saxonists prefer sunprint ; and sun-picture (1846) was an early Englishing of the word. The verb is first found (along with photography and photographic ) in a paper Herschel read before the Royal Society on March 14, 1839. Related: Photographed ; photographing . also from 1839
photograph came in through Greek, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
How that family writes these sounds
| /f/ | ph, transliterating φ. English had a perfectly good f and pointedly didn't use itphotograph, philosophy, sphere, amphibian |
What gives it away on the page
| ph | Transliterates φ. English had a perfectly good f and didn't use it — that's the tell.photograph, philosophy, sphere, amphibian |
Placing it without the spelling
| science, medicine, technical coinage | Greekphotograph, chemistry, system, pneumonia |