TENNIS
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:33 pm
• tennis •
Pronunciation: ten-is • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun, mass
Meaning: A game played with rackets and a light ball by two players or two pairs of players on a rectangular court of grass, clay, or asphalt, divided by a net over which the ball is hit.
Notes: Remember that in 1874 the equipment and rules for lawn tennis were patented under the name of sphairistike. Since this name was too difficult to pronounce, it was replaced by tennis. Recall also, that the scoring in tennis has the peculiar word for "zero": love (see the Word History of love for that story).
In Play: In US parks, visitors are warned against leaving cans of tennis balls in their cars. Why? Tennis balls come in sets of three in elongated cans about the same size as the cans of certain machine-made potato chips (crisps). Bears in some parks have learned that they can find a nice treat inside these odd-sized cans but, since they still cannot read, they cannot tell the difference between the two types of cans. Tennis, anyone?
Word History: Today's healthy and stimulating game has been known since around 1400 under the name, tenetz, later tennes. It is mentioned in La Cronica di Firenze of Donato Velluti (who died in 1370) as tenes and is said to have been brought to Florence by French knights in 1325. In Old French it was tenez "Hold!", the plural imperative of tenir "to hold", from Latin tenere. The present participle of this verb is visible in lieutenant, from lieu "place" and tenant "holding".
Pronunciation: ten-is • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun, mass
Meaning: A game played with rackets and a light ball by two players or two pairs of players on a rectangular court of grass, clay, or asphalt, divided by a net over which the ball is hit.
Notes: Remember that in 1874 the equipment and rules for lawn tennis were patented under the name of sphairistike. Since this name was too difficult to pronounce, it was replaced by tennis. Recall also, that the scoring in tennis has the peculiar word for "zero": love (see the Word History of love for that story).
In Play: In US parks, visitors are warned against leaving cans of tennis balls in their cars. Why? Tennis balls come in sets of three in elongated cans about the same size as the cans of certain machine-made potato chips (crisps). Bears in some parks have learned that they can find a nice treat inside these odd-sized cans but, since they still cannot read, they cannot tell the difference between the two types of cans. Tennis, anyone?
Word History: Today's healthy and stimulating game has been known since around 1400 under the name, tenetz, later tennes. It is mentioned in La Cronica di Firenze of Donato Velluti (who died in 1370) as tenes and is said to have been brought to Florence by French knights in 1325. In Old French it was tenez "Hold!", the plural imperative of tenir "to hold", from Latin tenere. The present participle of this verb is visible in lieutenant, from lieu "place" and tenant "holding".