email

/eemayl/ (also written e-mail and E-mail ) 1. n. Electronic mail
automatically passed through computer networks and/or via modems over
common-carrier lines. Contrast snail-mail , paper-net , voice-net. See
network address. 2. vt. To send electronic mail. Oddly enough, the word
emailed is actually listed in the OED; it means embossed (with a raised
pattern) or perh. arranged in a net or open work. A use from 1480 is given.
The word is probably derived from French maill (enameled) and related to Old
French emmaillere (network). A French correspondent tells us that in modern
French, email is a hard enamel obtained by heating special paints in a
furnace; an emailleur (no final e) is a craftsman who makes email (he
generally paints some objects (like, say, jewelry) and cooks them in a
furnace). There are numerous spelling variants of this word. In Internet
traffic up to 1995, email predominates, e-mail runs a not-too-distant
second, and E-mail and Email are a distant third and fourth.

