Firstly words, even technical terms, change meaning over time with usage. "Prime" originally meant the primary lens of a multi-lens cine camera. Now it means a lens with fixed focal length (sometime incorrectly called a fixed-focus lens). While we're on the subject, telephoto isn't even nearly the most incorrectly used term (that would almost certainly be HDR), people often confuse "depth of focus" with "depth of field", use "depth of field" to refer to "bokeh", use "bokeh" to refer to the degree of defocus in an image, the list goes on.

To answer your question, the only non-construction specific term to apply to a lens with a long focal length is simply "long". The distinction is not pedantry as it makes a big difference for large format photography, when using camera movements. Since the nodal point of a telephoto lens is in front of the optic rather than roughly in the middle, any lens tilts will require you to shift the lens again in order to restore the composition. Thus telephotos are more difficult to use and usually reserved for when size and weight are critical.