Balzac invented the word gendelettre

The term gendelettre was created in 1843 by Honoré de Balzac in his Monographie de la presse parisienne. The writer constructed this word on the model of gendarme to classify journalists in a synoptic table imitating the naturalist Linné. While this methodical classification has been forgotten, the word has become common and appears in at least three novels.