stadium English · revision 4116

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1380|origins=grc στάδιον}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈsteɪ.di.əm/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|stadie]],^(Etymonline) [[bor|la|stadium|t=a measure of length; a course for foot races]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[grc|στάδιον|tr=stádion|t=a measure of length; a racecourse]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The Greek word may mean “a fixed standard of length”, from stádios “firm, fixed”, from [[ine-pro|*steh₂-|alt=*sta-|t=to stand]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) or be an alteration, influenced by stádios, of earlier spádion “racecourse”, from spân “to draw, pull”;^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000)^(Hoad 1986) Beekes allows that stadion is perhaps a folk-etymological transformation of spádion.^(Etymonline) The English form was re-Latinized from early modern [[stade]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A foot race: about 1380, in Chaucer's Boece, according to Barnhart;^(Barnhart 1988) “a foot race, a racecourse” in the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As the ancient Greek and Roman measure of length, about 600 feet, it is from the early 15th century,^(Etymonline) 1398 in the OED and Barnhart;^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) early English Bibles translated it furlong.^(Etymonline) The running track for foot races, which developed because the most noted course, at Olympia, was one stadion long, is first recorded in Holland's Plutarch (1603).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The large, open structure with tiers of seats for sports is from 1834 in Etymonline,^(Etymonline) by 1901 in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988) A stage of a process or disease is from 1669.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1380 – a foot race.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1398 – a measure of length.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1603 – a running track.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1669 – a stage of a process.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1834 – a sports arena with tiers of seats.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large, usually open structure with tiers of seats around a field for [[sport]]s events.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # In ancient Greece, a course for foot races, with tiers of seats for spectators.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # An ancient Greek measure of length, about 607 feet.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A stage in the development of an insect or disease.^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[stadimeter]]

+ * [[stadia rod]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[stade]]

+ * [[stand]]

+ * [[spasm]]

+ * [[furlong]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}