discus

English

WOTD – 13 September 2008

Etymology

1656. From Latin discus, from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “disk, quoit, platter”). Doublet of dais, desk, disc, dish, disk, and diskos.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪs.kəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪskəs

Noun

discus (plural discuses)

1. A round plate-like object that is thrown for sport.
   • August 18 2004, Frank Fitzpatrick, “The amazing story of the first discus medal winner”, in The Philadelphia Inquirer:

     He [Robert Garrett] won even though he hadn't ever touched a real discus until just before the event was held.

   • August 23 2008, John Branch, “Estonia's Kanter Celebrates Gold Medal in the Discus His Way”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     [Gerd] Kanter had agreed to demonstrate his throwing skill on Friday, but rather than bringing his own discuses—he usually travels with about five of them, […]

2. (uncountable) The athletics sport of discus throwing.
   • 2008 September 8, “Weir lays down marker in Beijing”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     And Chris Martin took a silver medal in the discus on the opening day in the Bird's Nest, […]

3. (plural: discus) A discus fish (genus Symphysodon)
   • 2008, Carol Roberts, “History of Discus”, in North American Discus Association‎^[3]:

     The main body of the Amazon River is too fast, too deep, and too silt laden for discus.

4. (rare, dated) A chakram.
   • 1893, K. M. Ganguli, The Mahabharata, translation of original by Krishna-Swaipayana Vyasa, Adi Parva, Section XIX:

     And Narayana instantly cut off with his discus the well-adorned head of the Danava who was drinking the Amrita without permission.

   • 1899, Thomas William Rhys Davids (translator), Sàmañña-Phàla Sutta, translation of original by Digha Nikaya:

     If with a discus with an edge sharp as a razor he should make all the living creatures on the earth one heap, one mass, of flesh, […]

Usage notes

• Although an alternative Latinate plural disci is often cited, it is hardly ever used in practice.

Synonyms

• (round plate): quoit

Derived terms

• discus fish
• discus throw
• discus thrower

Translations

round plate-like object for throwing

• Albanian: disk (sq) m
• Arabic: قُرْص‎ m (qurṣ)
• Basque: disko
• Belarusian: дыск m (dysk)
• Bengali: চাকতি (cakti), ডিস্ক (ḍiśk)
• Bulgarian: диск m (disk)
• Catalan: disc (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鐵餅 (zh), 铁饼 (zh) (tiěbǐng)

• Czech: disk (cs) m
• Danish: diskos c
• Dutch: discus (nl) m
• Esperanto: disko
• Estonian: ketas (et)
• Finnish: kiekko (fi)
• French: disque (fr) m
• Galician: disco (gl) m
• Georgian: დისკი (disḳi)
• German: Diskus (de) m, Wurfscheibe (de) f
• Greek: δίσκος (el) m (dískos)

  Ancient: δίσκος m (dískos)

• Hebrew: דִּיסְקוּס‎ (he) m (dískus)
• Hindi: चक्र (hi) m (cakra), चक्का (hi) m (cakkā), डिस्क m (ḍisk)
• Hungarian: diszkosz (hu)
• Ido: disko (io)
• Italian: disco (it) m
• Japanese: 円盤 (ja) (えんばん, enban)
• Korean: 원반 (ko) (wonban)
• Lao: ຈັກ (chak)
• Latin: discus m
• Latvian: disks m
• Lithuanian: diskas (lt) m
• Macedonian: диск m (disk)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: diskos m

  Nynorsk: diskos m

• Persian: دیسک‎ (fa) (disk)
• Polish: dysk (pl) m
• Portuguese: disco (pt) m
• Romanian: disc (ro) m
• Russian: диск (ru) m (disk)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: диск m

  Roman: disk (sh) m

• Slovak: disk m
• Slovene: disk (sl) m
• Spanish: disco (es) m
• Swedish: diskus (sv) c
• Thai: จักร (th) (jàk), ดิสก์ (dìt)
• Turkish: disk (tr)
• Ukrainian: диск (uk) m (dysk)
• Urdu: ڈسکس‎ m (ḍisk)
• Vietnamese: dĩa (vi)
• Volapük: diskud (vo)

athletics sport of throwing the discus

• Bulgarian: мята́не на диск n (mjatáne na disk)
• Dutch: discuswerpen (nl) n
• Finnish: kiekonheitto (fi)
• French: disque (fr) m
• Galician: lanzamento de disco m
• German: Diskuswerfen (de) n
• Hebrew: הטלת דיסקוס‎ m (hatalát dískus)
• Hungarian: diszkosz (hu)
• Ido: disko (io)
• Portuguese: arremesso de disco m
• Russian: мета́ние ди́ска n (metánije díska)
• Spanish: disco (es) m
• Turkish: disk atma (tr)
• Volapük: diskudijedam

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Dutch

discus

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin discus, from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos). First attested in the eighteenth century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪskʏs/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dis‧cus
• Rhymes: -ɪskʏs

Noun

discus m (plural discussen, diminutive discusje n)

1. discus

   Synonym: werpschijf

Derived terms

• discuswerpen

Related terms

• dis
• disc
• diskette

Descendants

• → Indonesian: diskus

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Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈdis.kus/, [ˈd̪ɪs̠kʊs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdis.kus/, [ˈd̪iskus]

Noun

discus m (genitive discī); second declension

1. a discus, quoit
2. a dish shaped like a discus
3. disc of a sundial

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	discus	discī
Genitive	discī	discōrum
Dative	discō	discīs
Accusative	discum	discōs
Ablative	discō	discīs
Vocative	disce	discī

Descendants

• Old French: deis, dois
  • French: dais
  • → Middle English: deis
    • English: dais
    • Scots: deas, deece
• Old Italian: desco
  • Italian: desco
  • → Medieval Latin: desca
    • → Middle English: deske, desque
      • English: desk
        • → Irish: deasc
        • → Welsh: desg
      • Scots: dask
• Old Occitan:
  • Occitan: des
• Old Spanish:
  • Spanish: desca, desga
• → Albanian: dhisk
• → Albanian: dishkë
  • Albanian: dishtë
• → Asturian: discu
• → Catalan: disc
• → Danish: diskos
• → Dutch: discus
• → French: disque
  • → English: disc
  • → Norman: disque
  • → Persian: دیسک‎ (disk)
  • → Romanian: disc
  • → Turkish: disk
• → English: discus
• → Galician: disco
• → Proto-West Germanic: *disk (see there for further descendants)
• → Hebrew: דִּיסְקוּס‎ (dískus)
• → Italian: disco
• → Portuguese: disco
• → Spanish: disco
  • → Basque: disko
• → Swedish: diskus

References

• “discus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “discus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• discus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• discus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• “discus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “discus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin