Issue date: 4/8/09 Section: Sports

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Many of the words used in sports are taken for granted today. They've been assigned a sporting related definition that has become so commonly understood that people rarely consider the origins of such words. Etymology can help us understand where the words derived from and why they are used in different ways today.

There are countless words that can be discussed under this topic, but here is a handful of the more interesting terms.

Take for instance the word puck. In Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the meddling character Puck is a mischievous elf who represents land spirits. Given no other background information, some might assume hockey's puck was somehow derived from folklore.

In fact, the archaic meaning of puck is literally an evil spirit, according to Merriam-Webster's dictionary. However, its English definition means to poke or hit. It is thought to come from the Irish game called Poc, which is similar to both lacrosse and field hockey.

Senior geology major Lewis Lummen said he doesn't know where the word came from, but came up with an imaginative guess: hockey had just developed and needed a word for the puck, so everyone asked a player who was staring at a little duck. Apparently, the player wasn't paying attention and said, "Look at that duck."

"Everyone mistook it for puck and it stuck ever since," Lummen said. Obviously, this is only Lummen's opinion and that the word puck did not actually derive from the word duck.

A lesser known but very different sporting term can be found in volleyball. A team is allowed one player in its 12-person roster to be the libero. This player is allowed to move around the entire back row but cannot make any offensive moves, like setting or spiking. The word libero (lib-AIR-oh) comes from the word "liber" which means "free" in Latin.

Sophomore communication studies major Jillian Sayles thinks the word libero might mean liberty, which is very close to the actual definition: free. However, her thoughts on the word's origins are a bit farfetched.

"It's derived from the Swedish game called 'Little Toe,'" Sayles said. "The natives would have a foot race only using their pinky toes."

When asked where the word sack in football comes from, junior social science major Kristina Norsworthy said, "I dunno where. Is there like a joke section in the paper or something?" After some clarification, Norsworthy concluded that the term must come from the phrase, "Put it in the bag." "Bag it, sack it; same thing," Norsworthy said. Although she got off to a rocky start, Norsworthy was dead-on with her explanation.

Sports buffs are generally familiar with one definition of these words, but have probably given little thought to their origins or alternative meanings. Many people really have no idea what these words mean at all, in sports or otherwise. There seems to be a common confusion between the sporting term and definition of similar sounding word. It can be fun to learn new words or make the connection between Latin roots and modern language. And as some students have shown, it can also be fun to completely make up a definition.


Dawn Johnson can be reached at djohnson@statehornet.com

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