Wimbledon and "Love"

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Arthur - 30 Jun 2005 22:27 GMT

Hello All,

I would like to ask a question about the word LOVE which is used in the
scores in the Wimbledon tournament, e.g. 'FIFTEEN - LOVE'.

I heard the explanation that the origin of this neaning of the word
'love' refers to the shape of an egg: ---> 0 = zero. It seems to
come from French: "the egg" in French is " l'oeuf ", which sounds
like "love".
Is this correct?
And if so: why was this originally French word introduced into an
originally British sport?

And also in connection with tennis: Is the term "DEUCE" connected with
the French word "DEUX"?

Arthur

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Owain - 30 Jun 2005 23:02 GMT

> I heard the explanation that the origin of this neaning of the word
> 'love' refers to the shape of an egg: ---> 0 = zero. It seems to
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> And if so: why was this originally French word introduced into an
> originally British sport?

I don't know if the "egg"/"l'oeuf" story is correct, but bear in mind
that (real) tennis dates back hundreds of years, when royalty and the
aristocracy would have spoken (or at least been fluent in) some variant
of French

There's a (real) tennis court at Hampton Court Palace. The modern
usurper is properly called "lawn tennis".

Owain

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Einde O'Callaghan - 30 Jun 2005 23:10 GMT

> Hello All,
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> And if so: why was this originally French word introduced into an
> originally British sport?

Why do you think it's originally a British sport?

According to http://tennis.about.com/od/history/a/earlyhistory.htm it's
probably of medieval French origin.

Lawn tennis, on the other hand, is of relatively recent origin - 1873 -
and it is British. See here
<http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://hem.passagen.se/jo
nasagn/tennis.html%239>
But is was an adaption of an earlier indoor game, form whicu#h it seems
to have adopted teh terminology.

> And also in connection with tennis: Is the term "DEUCE" connected with
> the French word "DEUX"?

Yes - it means either side have to win two games in a row to win the set.

A simple Google search for the terms "tennis2 and "origins" would have
found you those links and many others in a fraction of a second.

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

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Arthur - 30 Jun 2005 23:31 GMT

>> Hello All,
>>
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
>
> Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Thank you for your answer and thank you for the 'google' hint as well!

Regards, Arthur

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Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / June 2005

Wimbledon and "Love"