Text from foreignlanguages80 -
English
Sports and languages
- Sports and languages The link between sports and languages is quite strong, not only because of sport is part of culture, but also because of the language itself.
- Let’s take English for example.
- In the UK, the word “football” most times indicates “association football”, the most famous sport in the world.
- In Ireland, the same term can be used to indicate Gaelic football, as well, which is a completely different sport.
- In the USA, the word “football” is used to indicate “American football” while in Canada it indicates “Canadian football”, two versions of a sport that is generally called “gridiron football”.
- In both countries, “association football” is usually called “soccer”.
- In Australia, the word “football” indicates “Australian rules football”, still another code, and in New Zealand it can often indicate “rugby football”.
- So many meanings for just one word, amazing, isn’t it?
- What about the other languages?
- The majority of European languages tend to call “association football” with names derived from “football”: in French it is “football”, in German it is Fußball, in Spanish it is fútbol etc. One important exception is Italian: in Italy, the word “football” was originally used, but it was later replaced with the Italian “calcio”, a term derived from a traditional sport which was quite similar to modern football and was very popular in Florence.
- For this reason, it was called “calcio fiorentino”, that is: Florence football.
- Florence is the city where Italian language and culture had origin, so it was normal for Italian people that Florence should have chosen the name for the new sport.
- What do you think?
- foreignlanguages80
April 2021
Vote now!
PLEASE, HELP TO CORRECT EACH SENTENCE! -
English