The Term "Sport” Is Rooted in the Old French Word "Desport"
I hope you will appreciate my mosaic which represents the universality of sport and some sports: football, tennis, rugby ...
The term “sport” is rooted in the Old French word desport which means “entertainment, physical or spiritual pleasure” 1. By crossing the Channel, desport turns into a “sport” and removes the general notion of leisure from its scope to concentrate on physical and mental activities alone. The German language also admits the term "sport" and its English definition in 1831; France made use of it for the first time in 18282. The border between games and sports is however not very clear. The French Chess Federation, founded in 1921, thus received sports accreditation from the Ministry of Youth and Sports in 2000, but only because it was a federation “associated” with the CNOSF3. Certain traditional practices are also problematic: sport or game? The question is still open.
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