marathon

marathon

See also: Marathon

English

Etymology

From French marathon, coined in 1894 by linguist Michel Bréal for the first modern time Olympic Games after Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn), a town northeast of Athens. Phidippides the Greek ran the distance from Marathon to Athens to deliver a message regarding the Battle of Marathon. The modern sport of marathon running is based on a run approximately the same distance. The toponym itself comes from μάραθον (márathon, “fennel”) and refers to the prevalence of the plant in the area.[1]

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæɹəθən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmæɹəˌθɑn/, /ˈmɛɹəˌθɑn/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mar‧a‧thon

Noun

marathon (plural marathons)

1. A 42.195 kilometre (26 mile 385 yard) road race.
2. (figuratively, by extension) Any extended or sustained activity.

   He had a cleaning marathon the night before his girlfriend came over.

Derived terms

• -athon
• marathoner
• half marathon
• ultramarathon

Descendants

• → Bengali: ম্যারাথন (mẏarathônô)
• → Chinese: 馬拉松／马拉松
  • → Zhuang: majlahsungh

  Mandarin: 馬拉松／马拉松 (mǎlāsōng), 马拉松

• → Gujarati: મેરેથોન (merethon)
• → Hindi: मैराथन (mairāthan)
• → Japanese: マラソン (marason)
  • → Hakka: 馬拉松 (mà-la-sóng)
• → Korean: 마라톤 (maraton)
• → Swahili: marathoni

Translations

road race

Arabic: مَارَاثُون‎ m (mārāṯūn) Armenian: մարաթոն (hy) (maratʿon) Belarusian: марафо́н m (marafón) Bengali: ম্যারাথন (mẏarathônô) Bulgarian: марато́н m (maratón) Burmese: မာရသွန် (my) (mara.swan) Catalan: marató (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 馬拉松／马拉松 (zh) (mǎlāsōng) Czech: maraton (cs) m Danish: maraton n or c, maratonløb n Dutch: marathon (nl) m Esperanto: maratono Estonian: maraton Finnish: maraton (fi) French: marathon (fr) m Georgian: მარათონი (maratoni) German: Marathon (de) m Greek: μαραθώνιος (el) m (marathónios) Gujarati: મેરેથોન (merethon) Hausa: dogon gudu Hebrew: מָרָתוֹן‎ (he) m (maraton) Hindi: मैराथन m (mairāthan) Hungarian: maraton (hu) Icelandic: maraþonhlaup (is) n, maraþon (is) n Ido: maratono (io) Interlingua: Marathon Irish: maratón m Italian: maratona (it) f Japanese: マラソン (ja) (marason) Korean: 마라톤 (ko) (maraton) Latin: Marathon Latvian: maratons m Lithuanian: maratonas m Macedonian: маратон m (maraton) Maltese: maratona f Maori: te omaoma-a-Tōhē Norwegian: Bokmål: maraton n, maratonløp n Polish: maraton (pl) m Portuguese: maratona (pt) f Romanian: maraton (ro) Russian: марафо́н (ru) m (marafón) Scottish Gaelic: maraton m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ма̏рато̄н m Roman: mȁratōn (sh) m Slovak: maratón m Slovene: maraton (sl) Spanish: maratón (es) m or f Swahili: marathoni Swedish: maraton (sv) n, maratonlopp (sv) n Thai: มาราธอน (maa-raa-tɔn) Turkish: maraton (tr) Ukrainian: марафо́н m (marafón) Vietnamese: ma-ra-tông (vi) Zhuang: majlahsungh

any extended or sustained activity

Catalan: marató (ca) f Esperanto: (please verify) maratono Finnish: maraton (fi) French: marathon (fr) m German: Marathon (de) m Greek: μαραθώνιος (el) m (marathónios) Hungarian: maraton (hu) Polish: maraton (pl) m Romanian: maraton (ro) Russian: марафо́н (ru) m (marafón) Spanish: maratón (es) m or f

Verb

marathon (third-person singular simple present marathons, present participle marathoning, simple past and past participle marathoned)

1. To run a marathon.
   • 2015 August 1, “‘I was cross that my child had to beg the prime minister for a drug’”, in The Guardian‎:

     In less than two years, they and their family and friends have skydived, marathoned, tray-baked and dinner-danced their way to £130,000 for Duchenne research through their help4harry campaign.

2. (informal, transitive) To watch or read a large number of instalments of (a film, book, TV series, etc.) in one sitting.

   We're going to marathon Star Trek next weekend.

References

1. "Μαραθών". A Greek-English Lexicon. 1940. Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott. 12 September 2013, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=*maraqw/n.

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

marathon m (plural marathons, diminutive marathonnetje n)

1. marathon

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: máratòn

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French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.ʁa.tɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

marathon m (plural marathons)

1. marathon

Derived terms

• marathonien

Descendants

• → Czech: maraton, maratón, marathon
• → Danish: maraton, marathon
• → Dutch: marathon
  • → Papiamentu: máratòn
• → English: marathon
  • → Bengali: ম্যারাথন (mẏarathônô)
  • → Chinese: 馬拉松／马拉松
    • → Zhuang: majlahsungh

    Mandarin: 馬拉松／马拉松 (mǎlāsōng), 马拉松

  • → Gujarati: મેરેથોન (merethon)
  • → Hindi: मैराथन (mairāthan)
  • → Japanese: マラソン (marason)
    • → Hakka: 馬拉松 (mà-la-sóng)
  • → Korean: 마라톤 (maraton)
  • → Swahili: marathoni
• → Finnish: maraton
• → German: Marathon
• → Greek: μαραθώνιος (marathónios) (calque)
• → Hebrew: מָרָתוֹן‎ (maraton)
• → Hungarian: maraton
• → Latvian: maratons
• → Lithuanian: maratonas
• → Norwegian Bokmål: maraton
• → Polish: maraton
• → Romanian: maraton
• → Serbo-Croatian: mȁratōn
• → Swedish: maraton
• → Turkish: maraton
• → Vietnamese: ma-ra-tông

Further reading

• “marathon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.