Etymologically
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sportlich

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Forms

sportlich (strong nominative masculine singular sportlicher, comparative sportlicher, superlative am sportlichsten)[1]

Etymology

It is from German Sport + -lich, formed in the second half of the 19th century.[2][3] The noun Sport was borrowed in the early 19th century from English sport, short for older disport (“pastime, amusement”), which goes back through Old French desporter (“to amuse oneself”) to Latin dēportō (“to carry away”), formed portō (“to carry”).[4][2][3] In Late Latin the verb also meant “to amuse”, literally “to carry one's attention away”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch's first record is from 1889, in the phrase elegante und sportliche Welt (“the elegant and sporting world”), meaning “relating to sport”.[3] The Grimms' dictionary defines it as “proper to or belonging to sport”, as in sporting achievements or a purely sporting interest.[5]

Semantic evolution

From the early 20th century sportlich was also said of people shaped by sport: trained, athletic, fit, mostly with reference to their appearance and bearing.[3] At about the same time it came to mean “keeping to the rules of a sport”, and by transfer “fair, comradely, disciplined”, with the opposite unsportlich.[3] The noun Sportlichkeit followed in the early 20th century, both for athletic fitness and for fairness.[3]

Of clothing, sportlich “simple and practical in cut, youthful, smart” appears sporadically at the end of the 19th century and more often from the early 20th.[3] Today it can also describe a fast driving style or a powerful car.[6]

Timeline

  • Early 19th century – The noun Sport is borrowed from English.[3][2]
  • 1889 – First record of the adjective sportlich.[3]
  • Early 20th century – The senses “athletic, fit” and “fair” become established, and the noun Sportlichkeit appears.[3]
  • Early 20th century – sportlich is used more often of plain, practical clothing.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Relating to sport, based on sport, or meant for sport.[6][1]
  2. Fair, sportsmanlike.[6][1][7]
  3. Like a sporting performance: fast, powerful (of a pace, a way of driving, a car or engine).[6]
  4. Of a person: athletic, trained, full of energy.[6][1]
  5. Of clothing: simple and practical in cut, casual.[6][1]
  6. Of an act or plan: ambitious, demanding great effort.[1]

Word family

  • unsportlich
  • Sportlichkeit

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
  4. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 870
  5. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 16, 2689
  6. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  7. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org