DISCOTHEQUE

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

DISCOTHEQUE

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:45 am

• discotheque •

Pronunciation: dis-kê-tek • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A night club specializing in contemporary popular dancing of the 70s and 80s (or later).

Notes: Today's Good Word was snitched from French so recently that many dictionaries still list its French spelling, discothèque . You may place the grave over the E or not, as you please. In point of fact, however, English has proceeded very rapidly away from the French word by clipping it simply to disco, making the grave accent moot. The clipping disco also refers to a type of music popular in the 70s and early 80s, inside and outside the discotheques.

In Play: Discos were known for their lavish lighting as much as their disco music: "Leah Tarde spent so much time in discotheques and so little in libraries back in the 70s that she graduated a year behind her class." Discotheques in the US have become a rarity since disco music passed away in the early 80s but they are still around in Europe playing more recent popular music: "Carmen Ghia and Minnie Miles travel to Europe frequently to keep up with the disco scene there."

Word History: Today’s word is the undisguised French word discothèque "record library, disco nightclub", which came from Italian discoteca "record library". The Italian word is a patchwork of disco "disk, record" from Latin discus "quoit" + Greek theka "(storage) case". This word was created by analogy with Italian biblioteca "library" from Latin bibliotheca. The original Latin word discus was borrowed from Greek diskos, the noun from dikein "to throw". The root that went into the making of dikein seems to have originally meant "to show", for it turned up in English as teach and token. (Let us add here a token of our appreciation to Chris O'Neill for suggesting today's Good Word.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Postby Slava » Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:42 pm

Not that it means much, but biblioteka is the Russian word for library, too.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Postby Philip Hudson » Sun Jun 24, 2012 5:21 pm

The theological journal of Dallas Theological Seminary is "Bibliotheca Sacra". I subscribed for years but then let it lapse.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

misterdoe
Senior Lexiterian
Posts: 619
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:21 am
Location: New York City area
Contact:

Re: DISCOTHEQUE

Postby misterdoe » Sat Jul 21, 2012 6:10 pm

Meaning: A night club specializing in contemporary popular dancing of the 70s and 80s (or later).
Or maybe earlier. I seem to remember Disco Tech as the name of a college in fake news reports in more than one episode of TV's Batman series from the 60s. :)

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: DISCOTHEQUE

Postby Slava » Sat Jul 21, 2012 6:42 pm

Meaning: A night club specializing in contemporary popular dancing of the 70s and 80s (or later).
Or maybe earlier. I seem to remember Disco Tech as the name of a college in fake news reports in more than one episode of TV's Batman series from the 60s. :)
Disco Tech was the name of a high school basketball team the Dynamic Duo had to help.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

misterdoe
Senior Lexiterian
Posts: 619
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:21 am
Location: New York City area
Contact:

Postby misterdoe » Sat Jul 21, 2012 8:32 pm

Oops :oops: Thanks for the correction...

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Postby Slava » Sat Jul 21, 2012 8:51 pm

Oops :oops: Thanks for the correction...
Please, no need to feel any shame. I had no clue what you were talking about, so I looked it up.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 38 guests