klaxon

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromκλάζω“make a sharp sound; scream”
2. English todayklaxon

From the trademark Klaxon, based on Ancient Greek κλάζω (klázō, “make a sharp sound; scream”). The word was coined by Franklyn Hallett Lovell Jr., the founder of the Lovell-McConnell Manufacturing Co. of Newark, New Jersey, USA, which in 1908 obtained a licence of the patent to the machine generating the sound from American inventor Miller Reese Hutchison (1876–1944).

First known use, by meaning

• from 1908 A loud electric alarm or horn, especially as used in automobiles in the early 20th century.