The story
- Ancient Greek · derived from-φόρος
- French · derived from-phore
- Ancient Greek · derived fromσῆμα“mark, sign, token”
- French · borrowed fromsémaphore
- English todaysemaphore
The noun is borrowed from French sémaphore, from Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma, “mark, sign, token”) + French -phore (from Ancient Greek -φόρος (-phóros, suffix indicating a bearer or carrier)). By surface analysis, sema- + -phore. The verb is derived from the noun.
Words from the same roots
Ancient Greekσῆμα all →
semeaposematismmegasememesosememicrosemesema-semostomous
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.