Etymologically
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gymnasium

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɡymˈna.si.ũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [d͡ʒimˈnaː.s̬i.um][1]

Forms

gymnasium n (genitive gymnasiī or gymnasī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek γυμνάσιον (gumnásion, “exercise ground, school”), from γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”), because Greek athletes trained naked.[2][1][3] Varro and Catullus have the form gyminasium.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, in the Amphitryon, has a man search all the streets, the gymnasia and the perfume shops.[2][4] Köbler dates Plautus about 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a centre for athletic exercise, usually only in Greek cities, in Plautus, Cicero, Propertius and Ovid, who mention the girls' gymnasium of Sparta.[2][4] Plautus jokingly has someone made into a gymnasium, that is, beaten.[6] Inscriptions use it of a gymnastic exhibition given to citizens.[2] Isidore of Seville says that at Athens it was the place where philosophy was taught.[7]

In medieval Latin it meant a school, studies, mental and spiritual exercise, and also a guildhall or town hall and baths.[8][9][10] English gymnasium is recorded in the 1590s.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus mentions gymnasia.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.[4][5]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville connects it with philosophy at Athens.[7][5]
  • 1590s – English gymnasium is recorded.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A gymnasium, a place for athletic exercise.[2][1]
  2. A gymnastic exhibition.[2]
  3. A school of philosophy.[6][7]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A school; study, training.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com