Download Vocabulary and Philosophy of Sport

Arete
The Vocabulary of Sport
The Vocabulary of Sport
game < ME game(n) < OHG gaman “glee”
sport < disport < L dis + portare “to carry away”
“to divert or amuse oneself”
disport
Chaucer. The Parlement of Foules.
And in a privee corner, in disporte,
Fond I Venus and hir porter Richesse.
Chaucer. Wife of Bath’s Prologue
He hadde a book that gladly nyght and dayfor his di{s}port he wolde rede alway
Milton. Paradise Lost. IX. 1041-1043
There they their fill of love and love's disport
Took largely, of their mutual guilt the seal
The solace of their sin.
Proverbs 10.23 (King James Version)
It is as sport to a fool to do mischief.
Judges 16.25 (King James Version)
And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, that they said, Call
for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house;
and he made them sport; and they set him between the pillars.
Evolution of the word “Sport”
(from the Oxford English Dictionary)
sport < disport < L dis + portare “to carry away”
1. a) A pleasant pastime; entertainment or amusement; recreation;
diversion (1440)
b)
Amorous dalliance or intercourse (1550)
c)
Pastime afforded by the endeavour to take or kill wild animals, game
or fish. (1653)
e)
In the proverbial expression the sport of kings, originally applied to
war-making, but later extended to hunting and horse-racing (1668)
d.) Participation in games or exercise, especially those of an athletic
character or pursued in the open air; such games or amusements
collectively (1863)
2. a) in sport, in jest or joke, by way of fun or diversion; not seriously or in
earnest (1440)
b)
Jest, jesting; mirth or merriment (1671)
“Sport” Around the World
Most other modern languages derived their word
from the English word:
Ukranian
Modern Greek
Italian
German
Dutch
Gaelic
Turkish
Rumanian
Japanese
spórt
Spor
sport
Sport
sport
spors
spor
Spórt
supotsu
Other Important Sports Terms
recreation
to remake, recreate
diversion
to turn aside, divert
contest/contestant
struggle for victory or superiority
from Latin for “testifying or witnessing together”
compete/competition/competitor
struggle or rivalry
contest for prize
from Latin for “seeking together”
gynmasium
from Greek for “naked”
arete
Greek word for excellence, virtue
ludus
Latin word for game or school
Greek Athletic Vocabulary
sense of competition (agon) for a prize (athlos)
agon—agony
athlos—athlete
athletes "someone who competes for a prize (athlos)”
arete
Greek word for excellence, virtue
kaloskagathos "good and noble"
The terms “sport” and “game” imply leisure and amusement which do not apply
to Greek athletics.
Greeks did not know the ideal of “being a good sport.” Greek culture was
highly competitive. Rather they believed that
A nice guys finish last.
A winning isn’t the main thing, it’s the only thing.
Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.
Greeks did not limit such competition to athletics. There were also poetic and
musical competitions as well.
Philosophy of Sport
Mens sana in corpore sano (“a sound mind in a sound body”)
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a medium of self- or life-fulfillment
excess strength and the root of creative living
play
an aesthetic phenomenon
ethical training
a model of an “achieving society”
a reaction compensating for and adjusting to the conditions of living
in a world of industrial labor
a sign-world
a safety-value for aggression, instinctive reaction for the
preservation of the race, and discharge through appetency
a means in the class struggle of increasing production and
overcoming alienation
symbolized father-son conflict and substitute narcissistic
satisfaction
For further development of these ideas, see Philosophies of Sport.