# All Slavic languages: Names of sports



## winpoj

Hello,

There is a somewhat interesting phenomenon in Czech, namely that we have two names for many sports, one being of foreign and the other of domestic origin. For example:

Footbal: fotbal / kopaná
Basketball : basketbal / košíková
Volleyball: volejbal / odbíjená
Curling: curling / metaná
etc.

I'd be interested to know the situation in this regard in other Slavic languages.


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## .Jordi.

Ahoj,

in Polish it would be:

Footbal: futbol /piłka nożna / noga (but rather used among young people, especially in a sentence: grać w nogę -> to play football
Basketball : koszykówka
Volleyball: piłka siatkowa / siatkówka
Curling: curling (probably because it's quite new sport, give us some time and surely we'll invent our name )

team handball (házená): piłka ręczna / szczypiorniak (I wonder whether this name is used in other countries, hmmm)

and so on...

Cheers,

- J


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## slavic_one

Croatian:

Footbal - nogomet
Basketball - košarka
Volleyball - odbojka
Curling - curling (karling ?)
Handball - rukomet
Waterpolo - vaterpolo
Hockey - hokej
Tennis - tenis
Bowling - kuglanje


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## Tagarela

Ahoj,




winpoj said:


> There is a somewhat interesting phenomenon in Czech, namely that we have two names for many sports, one being of foreign and the other of domestic origin. For example:



And which one is most used? Is one more formal than other? Or people in Bohemia would use one more than people in Moravia? 

Na shledanou.:


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## kelt

Tagarela said:


> Ahoj,
> 
> And which one is most used? Is one more formal than other? Or people in Bohemia would use one more than people in Moravia?
> 
> Na shledanou.:


 
I have never said _kopaná_ or _odbíjená_. Ok, maybe once  I grew up in Bohemia so I can't speak for Moravians, but I think that during several periods of history Czech tended to adopt and stick to its own coined terms for things. That's were those second names came from.
I think it's more common to say _fotbal_ or _volejbal_, which are "Czechised" enough, than _kopaná_ or _odbíjená_. At least among younger generation. If you read an older book or an article written by people in their years they usually stick to what they've learnt - _kopaná_ etc.


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## Luluta

Bulgarian

   Football : *Футбол *
   Basketball : *Баскетбол*
Volleyball  *волейбол*
Curling*: къдрене *


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## Saluton

I'm afraid Russian uses only borrowings in most cases:
football - футбол (futb*o*l)
basketball - баскетбол (basketb*o*l)
volleyball - волейбол (voleyb*o*l)
curling - кёрлинг (ky*o*rling)
handball - гандбол (gandb*o*l) or ручной мяч (ruchn*o*y my*a*ch, archaic)
water polo - водное поло (v*o*dnoye p*o*lo) or ватерполо (v*a*terp*o*lo, rarer)
bowling - боулинг (b*o*uling)

There are some exceptions, of course, like the names of some disciplines of track and field (javelin throw - метание копья, long jump - прыжки в длину) or water sports (diving - прыжки в воду, synchronized swimming - синхронное плавание). *Track and field* and *water sports* themselves are referred to as *лёгкая атлетика *(ly*o*khkaya atl*e*tika) and *водные виды спорта *(v*o*dnyye v*i*dy sp*o*rta), respectively.


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## winpoj

I largely agree with Kelt about kopaná and odbíjená. These words are very formal but not really outdated. You can still find them in official documents. For example, it would be quite normal in officialese to write e.g. "policejní opatření pro zamezení vstupu výtržníků během mistrovství v kopané" (police measures to prevent access of hooligans during the football championship). On the other hand, I'd say that "košíková" is not that infrequent, although the people who play it tend to call it "basket" (not even "basketbal"). As far as I know, there's been no attempt to create anything really domestic for "hockey" (hokej). By contrast, "házená" for "handball" has successfully caught on - I don't think many people would say anything like "handbal".


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## vikicka

winpoj said:


> Hello,
> 
> There is a somewhat interesting phenomenon in Czech, namely that we have two names for many sports, one being of foreign and the other of domestic origin. For example:
> 
> Footbal: fotbal / kopaná
> Basketball : basketbal / košíková
> Volleyball: volejbal / odbíjená
> Curling: curling / metaná
> etc.
> 
> I'd be interested to know the situation in this regard in other Slavic languages.


 
Macedonian:
Football - ФУДБАЛ
Basketball- КОШАРКА
Volleyball - ОДБОЈКА


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## kusurija

winpoj said:


> Hello,
> 
> There is a somewhat interesting phenomenon in Czech, namely that we have two names for many sports, one being of foreign and the other of domestic origin. For example:
> 
> Footbal: fotbal / kopaná
> Basketball : basketbal / košíková
> Volleyball: volejbal / odbíjená
> Curling: curling / metaná
> etc.
> 
> I'd be interested to know the situation in this regard in other Slavic languages.


 
There is specific combinated word for this sport in Czech: 
nohejbal - it is played similary as volejbal but not with hands - with feet. 
(leg [foot] - noha (in Czech); -bal from Engl. ball). In slang - nohec. 
In dictionary I found: football-tennis. 

kopaná in [strong] slang: čutaná


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## venenum

winpoj said:


> On the other hand, I'd say that "košíková" is not that infrequent, although the people who play it tend to call it "basket" (not even "basketbal").



That's interesting! In Croatia, we have the same expression, _basket_, but it isn't used for "real" basketball - it's used for what English speakers would refer to as _streetball_, I believe: a "smaller" version of basketball, played by 2-4 players on only one half of the court.


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## kelt

kusurija said:


> There is specific combinated word for this sport in Czech:
> nohejbal - it is played similary as volejbal but not with hands - with feet.
> (leg [foot] - noha (in Czech); -bal from Engl. ball). In slang - nohec.
> In dictionary I found: football-tennis.
> 
> kopaná in [strong] slang: čutaná


 
Kusurija,

you are right! It has never occured to me...


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## kralik

Well in Czech we say 'football' much more often than 'kopaná'
However, We use the verb 'kopat' (to kick) in expressions like:
'Jdem si zakopak?' ('Shal we play some football'?) 
 or 
'Kopat si s míčem' ('To play with [foot]ball')


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## sokol

slavic_one said:


> Croatian:
> 
> Footbal - nogomet



Yes, but you also have 'futbol' - even though it may be considered slang. (Or is it really not used at all in Croatia [any more]?)

The same by the way goes for Slovenia: Slovene terms in the 'official' dictionary and many times slang terms which are loans from international languages (in this case English).


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## Athaulf

sokol said:


> Yes, but you also have 'futbol' - even though it may be considered slang. (Or is it really not used at all in Croatia [any more]?)



It's actually *fudbal*, and it sounds purely Serbian.  It's definitely not used in Croatia nowadays (except in joking imitations of Serbian speech), and I don't think it was used in Yugoslav times in Croatia either.


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## Thomas1

Another one in Polish:





.Jordi. said:


> [...] Basketball : koszykówka, kosz (literally meaning a basket)[...]


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## robin74

But the same would go for volleyball as well.
Volleyball - siatkówka, siatka (literally - "net")


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## sokol

Athaulf said:


> It's actually *fudbal*, and it sounds purely Serbian.  It's definitely not used in Croatia nowadays (except in joking imitations of Serbian speech), and I don't think it was used in Yugoslav times in Croatia either.



Sorry, *fudbal* then  ['futbol' would be Slovenian phonological writing, not the BCS writing system where allophones are represented with the corresponding letter] - I remember it quite well, very vividly (and that is interesting from scientific literature about a 'Yougoslav' film, I think it was filmed in Slovenia (but it was all Yougoslavia then, still); unfortunately I can't remember the title (I searched the IMDb for 'taxi' and 'autostop' and something similar because I think the film had something to do with that, unfortunately with no success).

Whatever, if I remember correctly then a Bosnian (? - somewhere south of the Slovenian border certainly) speaking a somewhat mixed form of Slovenian (with BCS-influence) said the sentence (that one I think I remember word by word, and actually in Slovenian): "da spet futbol začne" (football here being a symbol for the nation - Yougoslavia - and football being also the symbol for unity, for this particular person, because with football the nation forgot the ethnical conflicts already raging then).

Probably someone knows what I am talking of.

So 'fudbol' is only Serbian, very well - that I didn't realize till now, thanks!


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## Thomas1

robin74 said:


> But the same would go for volleyball as well.
> Volleyball - siatkówka, siatka (literally - "net")


Sure, I have recalled another one:
piłka (literally a ball)
I guess it's one of the most colloquial names for football, I have also heard it implying basketball but much less often than the former. 

Tom


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## iobyo

vikicka said:


> Macedonian:
> Football - ФУДБАЛ
> Basketball- КОШАРКА
> Volleyball - ОДБОЈКА



If ordinary Macedonians were to take more interest in our language, we should probably substitute words like _фудбал_ with _ногомет_ considering we already have _ракомет_, etc. Not to mention it sounds a lot better (at least to me it does). In this respect, I envy Slovenians and Croats.


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

iobyo said:


> In this respect, I envy Slovenians and Croats.


Actually the words _nogomet_ and _rokomet_ are improperly selected. Do we really throw feet/legs and hands/arms when playing football and handball? 
The proper naming should be _žogobrc_ and _žogomet_.


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