29.12.24: level 1; topic; school [13]; sports and exercise [1]

certamen, certaminis [3/n]: contest; race

dēlectāmentum, -ī [2/n]: pastime; amusement

disportus, -ūs [4/m]: (New Latin) sport

ars āthlētica: athletics

• āthlēta, -ae [1/m]: athlete

ars gymnastica: gymnastics

• gymnasticus, -ī [2/m]: gymnast
• gymnasium, -ī [2/n]: gym(nasium); exercise ground

also: palaestra, -ae [1/f]: an exercise area next to the public baths; the image shows the palaestra of the Stabian Baths at Pompeii

exerceō, -ēre,  -uī [2]: train

• corpus exerceō │ I train / exercise (my) body
• corporālis exercitātiō, exercitatiōnis [3/f] bodily exercise, or corporis exercitātiō: exercise of the body

currō, -ere, cucurrī [3]: run

• cursus, -ūs [4/m]: (the act of) running; a race

nātō, -āre, -āvī [1]: swim

• natātiō, natātiōnis [3/f]: swimming

lūdō, -ere, lūsī [3]: play (a game / sport); as with musical instruments Latin uses the ablative case with the name of the sport played or the piece of equipment e.g. a ball used to play it

disportibus [ablative] lūdō │ I play (at) sports
pilā lūdō│ I play ball = I play with / by means of ball

• lūdus, -ī [2/m]: game; can also refer to a school
• lūsor, lūsōris [3/m]: player; also a gambler

versor; versor: be involved (in)

• versor is a deponent verb, a form that has not yet been discussed in the group. However, it is useful to know in this topic and so, for the moment, simply note it and use to mean “I am involved” with the preposition in + ablative:

In āthlēticā versor. │ I am involved in athletics.

From the authors:

cum iam nātū grandīs artem āthlēticam dēsīvisset (Gellius)│ When, already old, he had given up athletics

neque industrior dē iuventūte erat / quisquam nec clārior arte gymnasticā: discō, hastīs, pilā, cursū, armīs, equō (Plautus) │  in youthful age not one there was more active in the arts of exercise [literally: in the gymnastic art], with the quoit (discus), the javelin, the ball, racing, arms, and horses. 

nam corporālis exercitātiō ad modicum ūtilis est pietās autem ad omnia ūtilis est (Vulgate) │ for bodily exercise has some value but godliness has value for all things

sibi habeant igitur arma, sibi equōs, sibi hastās, sibi clāvam et pilam, sibi natātiōnēs atque cursūs; nōbīs senibus ex lūsiōnibus multīs tālōs relinquant et tesserās (Cicero) │ Let others, then, have their weapons, their horses and their spears, their fencing-foils, and games of ball, their swimming contests and foot-races, and out of many sports leave us old fellows knuckle-bones and dice.

• lūsiō, lūsiōnis [3/f]: the translator uses “sports” but really means “play” i.e. the act of playing
• tālus, -ī [2/m]: [i] (anat.) knuckle-bone [ii] used to refer to the game of knuckle-bones, a game similar to jacks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knucklebones
• tessera, -ae [1/f]: [i] small piece of stone used for making mosaics [ii] a die as in the six-sided cube used for playing dice [see image]