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)

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:
  [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, […]
(uncountable) The athletics sport of discus throwing.
- 2008 September 8, “Weir lays down marker in Beijing”, in BBC‎:
  And Chris Martin took a silver medal in the discus on the opening day in the Bird's Nest, […]
(plural: discus) A discus fish (genus Symphysodon)
- 2008, Carol Roberts, “History of Discus”, in North American Discus Association‎:
  The main body of the Amazon River is too fast, too deep, and too silt laden for discus.
(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 (cakôti), ডিস্ক (ḍiskô)
Bulgarian: диск m (disk)
Catalan: disc (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 鐵餅／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

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)

discus
Synonym: werpschijf

Derived terms

discuswerpen

Related terms

dis
disc
diskette

Descendants

→ Indonesian: diskus

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

a discus, quoit
a dish shaped like a discus
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
→ Sicilian: discu
→ 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