Phlog

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A weblog-style series of posts published on a Gopher server, a text-based internet system predating the modern web
2. An online journal kept in Gopherspace, written as plain text and shared through the Gopher network
3. A diary-like publication maintained on the Gopher protocol, where entries are posted as simple text files

Etymology: Phlog is a blend, not an old word. It was made by squeezing together "phone" and "blog," the two parts of "phlog" (blend of phone + blog). Its meaning follows from those parts: a blog you publish or consume through a phone. The "phone" half traces back a long way. Its ancestors are Ancient Greek "phōnḗ," meaning "sound" or "voice," and "têle," meaning "far." Combined in the French "téléphone," the pair produced "telephone," a word for sending voices over a distance. English later clipped it to "phone," and that shortened form is what got blended. The "blog" half is itself a blend, from "web" and "log." "Weblog" appeared in the late 1990s, and speakers shortened it to "blog." Blending "phone" with that shortened form gives "phlog," which is shaped like "phone" with a "log" sound at its end.