# sport



## Ilmo

Is the word "sports" (or some word derived from it, like "deporte" in Spanish) used in your language, or have you a term of your own or any alternatives for sports?

In *Finnish* the word corresponding "sports" is *urheilu;* it is a noun derived from the adjective *urhea* (=brave), and the term was specially designed/invented in the early years of the last century. One of the reason for creating an own word may have been that no genuine Finnish word begins with two subsequent consonants. However, in spite of this, in the last few years the adjective *sporttinen* (=sporty) has been becoming more gereneral, mainly in the advertising vocabulary.


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## Lemminkäinen

We use *sport* in Norwegian, but there's also the word *idrett* (from Norse _íþrótt_, meaning both spiritual and physical excercise). 

*Sport* is a bit more wide-spread, and in the news papers, the sports section is called just that. *Idrett* is used in some compounds, like *friidrett*, "track and field".


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## gao_yixing

Ah...there is no such problem in Chinese. Our name is 体育(tĭ yù) or 运动(yùn dòng), which has no link with sports.


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## IlPetaloCremisi

mmm interesting question...I dont think there is an alternative in Italia...or at least I cant think of any right now!


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## irene.acler

IlPetaloCremisi said:


> mmm interesting question...i dont think there is an alternative in italia...or at least i cant think of any right now!



I agree with you. In Italian we use the word "sport". 
Nevertheless, in some cases we say "attività sportiva" as a synonym of "sport", for example in the sentence "faccio dello sport" = "faccio attività sportiva".


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## spakh

'spor' is used in Turkish and I don't know any word for sport, either. It is very common. spor is also used as an adjective meaning comfortable, useful.


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## parakseno

I'm not aware of another word for sport in *Romanian* other than, well, "sport"(neuter) - borrowed from French.


In *Greek* however, there are two words. The "international" "σπορ (το)" and the native word "αθλητισμός (ο)".


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## faranji

In Portuguese a _customized_ alternative is used: '*esportes*.'

(I'm looking forward to hearing the Arabic one. I think I remember it was the same word for 'mathematics'?)


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## Dr. Quizá

Ilmo said:


> (or some word derived from it, like "deporte" in Spanish)



"Deporte" derives from Latin "deportare", not from "sport".


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## Billopoulos

parakseno said:


> In *Greek* however, there are two words. The "international" "σπορ (το)" and the native word "αθλητισμός (ο)".


 
Αθλητισμός is a general word, we also use the word άθλημα (it has the same route) to say sport! To make it clear:

Football is a *sport*.
Το ποδόσφαιρο είναι ένα *άθλημα*.


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## jazyk

Portuguese has two other alternatives to esporte: desporte and desporto. Desporto is normally seen in the names of sports clubs and desporte is not seen much in Brazil. Without a shadow of a doubt, esporte is the most widely used word.


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## rocamadour

Very interesting question, Ilmo! 
Besides what IPC and irene said, I would like to add that in Italy during fascism (when foreign words were forbidden because of an extreme nationalism) they tried to find a substitute for the word *sport*. And at last they chose *diporto*, that literally means "recreation", "amusement", "diversion". Nowadays this word is used mostly in the expression "imbarcazione/i da diporto", which means "pleasure boat/s", that is boats for tourism (not for commercial use).
Ciao!

The word *diporto* of course is quite similar to the spanish *deporte*.


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## etornudo

Dr. Quizá said:


> "Deporte" derives from Latin "deportare", not from "sport".



That's correct. The English term "sport" derives from the French which is derived from the Latin "deportare." So I guess it's the other way around.

Thanks for pointing that out. I was under the same impression as the original poster and learned something new today!


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## irene.acler

rocamadour said:


> Very interesting question, Ilmo!
> Besides what IPC and irene said, I would like to add that in Italy during fascism (when foreign words were forbidden because of an extreme nationalism) they tried to find a substitute for the word *sport*. And at last they chose *diporto*, that literally means "recreation", "amusement", "diversion". Nowadays this word is used mostly in the expression "imbarcazione/i da diporto", which means "pleasure boat/s", that is boats for tourism (not for commercial use).
> Ciao!
> 
> The word *diporto* of course is quite similar to the spanish *deporte*.



Very interesting, rocamadour. I didn't know that. Thanks!


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## rocamadour

irene.acler said:


> Very interesting, rocamadour. I didn't know that. Thanks!


 
E di che cosa, irene! 
We're all learning so many things in this thread...


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## IlPetaloCremisi

irene.acler said:


> Very interesting, rocamadour. I didn't know that. Thanks!



Sottoscrivo quello che ha scritto Irene! Neanche io sapevo di questa parola "diporto"...grazie!


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## Ilmo

Dr. Quizá said:


> "Deporte" derives from Latin "deportare", not from "sport".


 
Thanks, Dr. Quizá, for the information. I'm not a latinist, and I just supposed wrong on basis of a phrase like "de sport" = sports, casual, and I thought that only the "s" was missing in "deportivo", etc.

One cannot avoid getting wiser every day...


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## lazarus1907

Ilmo said:


> Thanks, Dr. Quizá, for the information. I'm not a latinist, and I just supposed wrong on basis of a phrase like "de sport" = sports, casual, and I thought that only the "s" was missing in "deportivo", etc.


As a general rule, if two words look alike in English and Spanish, it is going to be a Latin or Greek word, and most likely, borrowed from French. English vocabulary is over 70% Greek and Latin; don't forget that.


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## ilbisaac

In *Hebrew*, the word for "sport" is "סְפּוֹרְט" (sport), and the word for athlete is either "סְפּוֹרְטַאי" (sporta'i, sort of like 'sportsman' in English) or "אַתְלֶט" (at-let, like 'athlete'). "Sporty," as in fashion or sportsmanlike, is "סְפּוֹרְטִיבִי" (sportivi).


In *Yiddish*, "sport" is "sport" (ספּאָרט), "sports" is "sportn" (ספּאָרטן), and "world of sports" is "sportvelt" (ספּאָרטוועלט).


Interestingly, the words for "sport" in Hebrew and Yiddish are both masculine in form... Hmmm... (though "world of sports" in Yiddish is female, and the adjectives in Hebrew can be made feminine with an additional suffix.)


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## macta123

In Hindi : Khel ; KriDa


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## Lugubert

In Sweden, like in Norway as mentioned, we have _sport_ and _idrott_. I'm a word and language professional aka translator, but I haven't quite been able to make up my mind on which to use when. Track and field events used to be _friidrott_, but nowadays, probably through English, those performing such activities often are referred to as _atleter_ 'athletes', which in my youth just meant weightlifters and similar folks. Football and icehockey are in my book _sporter_, but never _idrotter _(plural forms). 


macta123 said:


> In Hindi : Khel ; KriDa


Now here's rather material for another thread. Hindi खेल्न khelna and English 'to play' correspond nicely if I'm not mistaken. I'm not equally certain about any overlapping between क्रीड़ा krii.daa and sports. That Hindi word seems to me to be more like 'sporting' as in 'amusements'. 
 
We make a clear distinction in Swedish between playing referring to children's activities on one hand and playing instruments or games like tennis: the former is (infinitive) _leka_, the latter is _spela_. 'I play the bassoon' _Jag spelar fagott_ (I try ), 'I play football' _Jag spelar fotboll_ (I don't ), but 'The children play' _Barnen leker_.


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## roh3x2n

Farsi
Baazi or warzish.


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## J.F. de TROYES

In Arabic the word for "sport" is quite different : " رياضة" (riyaDa ) comes from the root "راض " which means to practise, to exercise, to train".
What's curious is that "mathematical" and "sport" (or "sporting) used as an adjective are translated by the same word رياضيّ ( riyaDiyy ) of which رياضيّات (riyaDiyyat ) , mathematics, is derived.


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## Outsider

If only all languages made that association...


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## Petrucci369

In danish you also use the word *"* *idræt " (here the æ is pronounced as "a" in parked) *

Sometimes the word _*idræt *_is the only one used, for example as a class in school "sports" is *idræt*.

_Today in *idræt*_ we did different kinds of *sports* 

In all, the meaning is quite similar as explained by Lemminkäinen regarding the norwegian _idrett_


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## linguist786

Lugubert said:


> Hindi खेल्न khelna and English 'to play' correspond nicely if I'm not mistaken.


खेलना is the correct spelling of "khelnaa" . And yes, they do correspond nicely.


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## jmx

Ilmo said:


> Dr. Quizá said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Deporte" derives from Latin "deportare", not from "sport".
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Dr. Quizá, for the information. I'm not a latinist, and I just supposed wrong on basis of a phrase like "de sport" = sports, casual, and I thought that only the "s" was missing in "deportivo", etc.
Click to expand...

I think the word "deporte" is in fact more of an invented term, just like what you mention for Finnish. That is, the word "deporte" had long been out of use when someone decided to revive it for a new concept, 'sport', using as an excuse that the English word has the same distant Latin root as that (then obsolete) Spanish word.


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## daoxunchang

gao_yixing said:


> Ah...there is no such problem in Chinese. Our name is 体育(tĭ yù) or 运动(yùn dòng), which has no link with sports.


Actually I believe 体育 has something to do with English. 体育 as a compulsory course for contemporary Chinese students with "modern" sport forms really began not very long ago. The Chinese word for 体育 comes from the English P.E., physical education. Compare them and you'll see there occured a word-for-word translation.


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## Abbassupreme

roh3x2n said:


> Farsi
> Baazi or warzish.



Baazi actually literally means "game", not sport.  It's used in such phrases as "baazi ye futbaal".

AND THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS THE "w" SOUND IN PERSIAN!

A more accurate transliteration would be "varzesh" and also "barzesh", which can both also be used to mean both physical exercise or an exercise in a workbook or textbook.


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## MarX

Hi!

The Indonesian word for _sports_ is *olahraga*.
It contains *olah* and *raga*.

*Olah* = manufacture, process
*Raga* = body

Salam,


MarX


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## blue_jewel

It still "sport or sports" in our country


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## mataripis

Tagalog: Palakasan


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## apmoy70

Billopoulos said:


> Αθλητισμός is a general word, we also use the word άθλημα (it has the same route) to say sport! To make it clear:
> 
> Football is a *sport*.
> Το ποδόσφαιρο είναι ένα *άθλημα*.


Actually technically speaking, football is not an «άθλημα» ('aθlima, _n._) but a «σπορ» (spor, _n._) the Greek calque of the international word _sport_.
Track and field on the other hand (in Greek, «στίβος*», /'stivos/ _m._) is an «άθλημα**». The English phrase nearest in meaning to «άθλημα» is _contest_. 
Τhe neologism «ομαδικό άθλημα» (omaði'ko 'aθlima), lit. _team contest_ which has slowly begun to prevail over the borrowed word «σπορ» in Greek, is in my humble opinion, a contradiction. «Άθλημα» is an individual discipline.

*«στίβος» ('stivos, _m._); in the ancient language, «στίβος» ('stībŏs, _m._) described the trodden way, or the footstep. Later, after the birth of the Olympic games it also meant the track, atheletes run on. A derivation of the verb «στείβω» ('steibō)--> _to tread_ or _stamp on, tread under foot_ (PIE base *steibʰ-, _to press together, pack, cram_).
**«άθλημα» ('aθlima, _n._)--> _athletic contest_; a derivation of the Classical masculine noun «ἄεθλος/ἆθλος» ('ăĕtʰlŏs [uncontracted]/'ātʰlŏs [contracted])--> _struggle, labour, ordeal_ of unknown etymology.


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## ilocas2

Czech: *sport*


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