discus

English

WOTD – 13 September 2008

Etymology

1656. From Latin discus, from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “disk, quoit, platter”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪs.kəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪskəs

Noun

discus (plural discuses)

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

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

   • 2008, John Branch, "Estonia's Kanter Celebrates Gold Medal in the Discus His Way", The New York Times, August 23,

     [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, "Weir lays down marker in Beijing", BBC, September 8,

     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.
   • 2008, Carol Roberts, "History of Discus", North American Discus Association,

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

4. (rare, dated) A chakram.
   • 1893, Krishna-Swaipayana Vyasa, translated by K. M. Ganguli, The Mahabharata, 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 (transl.), Digha Nikaya, "Sàmañña-Phàla Sutta",

     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, […]

Synonyms

• (round plate): quoit

Derived terms

• discus fish
• discus throw
• discus thrower

Usage notes

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

Translations

round plate-like object for throwing

• Bulgarian: диск m (disk)
• Czech: disk (cs) m
• Dutch: discus (nl) m
• Finnish: kiekko (fi)
• French: disque (fr) m
• German: Diskus (de) m
• Hebrew: דיסקוס‏‎ (he) m (dískus)
• Hungarian: diszkosz (hu)
• Ido: disko (io)

• Latin: discus m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: diskos m

  Nynorsk: diskos m

• Portuguese: disco (pt) m
• Russian: диск (ru) m (disk)
• Spanish: disco (es) m
• Turkish: disk (tr)

athletics sport of throwing the discus

• Bulgarian: мятане на диск n (mjatane na disk)
• Dutch: discuswerpen (nl) n
• Finnish: kiekonheitto (fi)
• French: disque (fr) m
• 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)

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Dutch

discus

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪskʏs/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

discus m (plural discussen, diminutive discusje n)

1. discus

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Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈdis.kus/

Noun

discus m (genitive discī); second declension

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

Inflection

Second declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	discus	discī
genitive	discī	discōrum
dative	discō	discīs
accusative	discum	discōs
ablative	discō	discīs
vocative	disce	discī

Descendants

• Catalan: disc
• English: dais, desk, disc, discus, disk, dish (through Old English, Germanic)
• French: disque, dais
• Icelandic: diskur, (plate, or any object formed like a plate)
• Italian: desco, disco
• Norman: disque

• Old French: deis, dois
• Portuguese: disco
• Proto-Slavic: *dъska
• Romanian: disc
• Spanish: disco, desca, desga

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
• du Cange, Charles (1883), “discus”, in G. A. Louis Henschel, Pierre Carpentier, Léopold Favre, editors, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (in Latin), Niort: L. Favre
• “discus” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)
• 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