Why in Italy (and not only) we call thehair dryer Also “phon/phon/phon”? Is it an English term or its origin is it another one? And how to write it correctly? The answer to all these questions is provided in a timely article by the Accademia della Crusca, one of the main authorities on the Italian language. In short, the more correct spelling would be “fon” with the “f” (and possibly “fono”, with the addition of the final “o”). Most people, however, tend to use the form “phon”, perhaps because of its closeness to the spelling of “phone“, “telephone” in English Englishand imagining that the term could be of Anglo-Saxon origin (when instead it is said hairdryer) or French.
The spelling “fon”, to indicate the hair dryer, is motivated by the origin of this word: it derives in fact from the Foehn (or Foehn), name German assigned to a hot and dry winddescending from the mountain peaks, and in turn deriving in principle from a Latin term which indicates the same wind: “(twenty) favonium“. For the ancient Romans, the favonio was precisely a west wind, hot and dry, which came down into the valleys from the mountain tops and created better conditions for cultivation. It is no coincidence that the etymology of the term “favonium” comes from the verb favorMeaning what “to favor”. The (twenty) favoniumin this sense, contained in its very name its function, that is, being pro-agriculture.
Returning to the reason why we call the hair dryer “fon”, it must be said that the association with the Föhn did not initially occur at a popular level. It was a company, the HealthIn the 1908to market a hairdryer whose name was inspired by the name of the wind, although simplifying it to “Foehn“. This company was later acquired by a larger one, the AEGwhich further spread the consumer good, so much so that it arrived and circulated in Italy in second half of the 50s. In our country we have therefore Italianized the term and made it commonly used, starting to write it with the spelling “fon” (or “fono”) and to pronounce it “fòn”. The spelling “phon” is instead more recent and widespread, even if it is technically incorrect.
