The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Any ideas?
Dave D

I seem to recall reading someplace that a number of names had been considered (I can't find it in Frow). Of course amber is a very hard material that indefinitely preserves whatever is contained in it, so it would be a good choice for the name of a new record.

The Edison Phonograph Monthly wasn't nearly so romantic in it's explanation, as found in the March 1909 issue:

Amberol is a coined word, and has no definition. It is simply the name of the new Edison Record. It means no more than "Uneeda" does to a certain brand of soda-cracker or "Sapolio" to a cleaning compound.

I suspect someone in the National Phonograph Company was not pleased with this lack of imagination, because in the following month's edition, the same question was asked as to the definition of "Amberol." This time the answer was different:

We would reply in brief - A M-uch B-etter E-dison R-ecord O-f L-ength.

Whoever was writing this stuff didn't seem very enthusiastic!

George P.

Here's an extract from Dethlefson [emphases mine]:

"In April of 1908, Thomas Edison and his phonograph executives met to name a new extended-play cylinder record. In the end there was general agreement that "Edison Fourminnit Record" was the best name, but Edison's attorney, Frank Dyer, was to check out patent implications.

They met together again in May. Dyer argued for a name having no direct connection with the record length. .... Dyer's warning against a title which was not unique was accepted. Dyer favored "Amber" or "Amberol". Walter Miller of Edison's recording department liked the name "Amberole". The name suggested "amber" and the fine quality jewelry and accessories made of that substance....

Thomas Edison favored "Edison Amber Record", but in the end, "Edison Amberol Record" was born."

Bill

That's the book! Thanks for posting it, Bill.

George P.

Thanks for the information. I always thought that it was a goofy name that did not express much about the record at all.
Dave D

phonogfp wrote:or "Sapolio" to a cleaning compound.

Just as a side note: what an asinine example has that redactor brought. Don't know if it sounds just as clear to aglo-saxons as it does to neolatins, but to us it sounds absolutely obvious that with that name the brand intended to suggest that the product was an oil-rich soap.

Marco Gilardetti wrote:

phonogfp wrote:or "Sapolio" to a cleaning compound.

Just as a side note: what an asinine example has that redactor brought. Don't know if it sounds just as clear to aglo-saxons as it does to neolatins, but to us it sounds absolutely obvious that with that name the brand intended to suggest that the product was an oil-rich soap.

That name falls on deaf Anglo ears! It means nothing to us.

Strange and unintended consequences can happen to trade names exported to other countries. An American car model named "Nova" did not sell well in Latin America. It turns out the name means "not going" in Spanish!

Yes, or why the sporty Mazda MR2 did not sell well in France. The company did not think about how. MR2 sounds if pronounced in French.

Andreas

Re: "sapolio," soap (the word) is derived from Latin sapo, soap. Olio is derived from L. oleum, oil. (Petroleum is oil from rocks, petros being Greek for stone.) It helps to have studied Latin!

Uneeda (the biscuit) is an obvious play on "you need a" (biscuit), a now-extinct Nabisco product.

Amberole and Amberola have been sufficiently explained in preceding posts.

VintageTechnologies wrote:

Marco Gilardetti wrote:

phonogfp wrote:or "Sapolio" to a cleaning compound.

Just as a side note: what an asinine example has that redactor brought. Don't know if it sounds just as clear to aglo-saxons as it does to neolatins, but to us it sounds absolutely obvious that with that name the brand intended to suggest that the product was an oil-rich soap.

That name falls on deaf Anglo ears! It means nothing to us.

Strange and unintended consequences can happen to trade names exported to other countries. An American car model named "Nova" did not sell well in Latin America. It turns out the name means "not going" in Spanish!

"SAPOLIO" would certainly not "fall deaf" on the "Anglo ears" of a manufacturing chemist, or even an old-time chandler. "SAPonified". Sort of like the Castile soap made by Colgate using Palm and Olive oils.

As a former lubricant chemist, I spent much of my time supervising the industrial scale saponification of oils and fats. Calcium, Sodium, Lead, Lithium, and Aluminum Complex soaps, the saponifying reactions of which could be quite complex. And Oh! The soaps made with Red Fish Oil!