discus

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin discus (“discus, disk”),^[2][3][4][5] which is from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “disk, quoit, platter”).^[3][4][6][7] The Greek word is traditionally related to δικεῖν (dikeîn, “to throw”),^[4][8][9] which Etymonline, following Watkins, takes perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dik-skos-, from *deik- (“to show, pronounce solemnly”), the notion of throwing being that of directing an object.^[4] Beekes, after Furnée, doubts that derivation, because the suffix is rare in nouns, and considers the verb Pre-Greek.^[10][4] The word is a doublet of dais, desk, dish and disk.^[3][1] The fish is named after discus, its specific epithet in scientific Latin (Heckel, 1840).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A heavy disc thrown in athletic sports: 1581, in R. Mulcaster's Positions,^[2][5] an antedating of the 1656 given by Barnhart and the 1650s given by Etymonline.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word entered English as a term for ancient sport, and Johnson (1755) still defines it as a quoit, a heavy piece of iron thrown in the ancient games, quoting Pope's Odyssey.^[11] Greek had used it as far back as the Iliad.^[10] By 1633 it also named the sport itself.^[2] It was then applied to other round things: the disc of a heavenly body (1659–1775), a botanical disc (from 1687), and an ancient metal platter or ceremonial shield (from 1680).^[2] The related disk is recorded from the 1660s for a round, flat surface.^[4] The modern athletic implement, made of metal and wood and thicker at the center, is thrown from a marked circle.^[5] From 1935 the word is also the name of an Amazonian aquarium fish.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1581 – a heavy disc thrown in sports.^[2][5] Barnhart dates the word to 1656.^[3]
• 1633 – the sport of throwing it.^[2]
• 1659 – the disc of a heavenly body (obsolete after 1775).^[2]
• 1680 – any disc-shaped object, especially an ancient metal platter or ceremonial shield.^[2]
• 1687 – in botany, a disc.^[2]
• 1935 – an Amazonian cichlid fish.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A heavy disc of metal and wood, thicker in the center, thrown for distance in athletics.^[9][5][2]
2. The field event of throwing it: She won silver in the discus.^[9][5][2]
3. In ancient Greece, a stone or metal plate thrown in competition; a quoit.^[9][11]
4. Any South American cichlid of the genus Symphysodon, a popular aquarium fish; also discus fish.^[9][2]
5. In classical history, a thin metal plate used as a platter or ceremonial shield.^[2]
6. In botany, a disc.^[2]

Related words

• disk
• disc
• dish
• desk
• dais

Usage notes

The plural is discuses or, less often, disci.^[9][5] Dictionary.com warns against confusing it with discuss.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.