Cablegram is a compound of cable + -gram (from Greek gramma 'something written'), coined in the 19th century on the model of telegram. Cable is from Old North French cable, from Late Latin capulum ('lasso, rope'). The historical trail runs through capulum in Latin and gramma in Ancient Greek. Morphologically, cablegram is transparent: it is a compound of cable + -gram (from Greek gramma 'something written'), coined in the 19th century on the model of telegram. Used as a noun, cablegram now means "a message sent by submarine telegraph cable", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as cable and telegram. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.