gymnasium

Etymology

First recorded in 1598,^[1][2] borrowed from Latin gymnasium (“exercise ground, school”),^[1][3] from Ancient Greek γυμνάσιον (gumnásion),^[2][3] from Ancient Greek γυμνάζω (gumnázō, “to train naked”),^[2][1] from Ancient Greek γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”),^[2][4] because Greek athletes trained naked.^[3] The Greek word is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nogw- (“naked”).^[5]

In German the word has been used since the 15th century for a kind of high school; in English it has remained purely athletic.^[5]

References

1. [1] [2] [3] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. [1] [2] [3] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. [1] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. [1] [2] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com