• disport •
Pronunciation: di-sport • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, noun
Meaning: 1. (Verb, transitive) To cheer up, to amuse, to divert; (intransitive), to frolic, cavort, rollick. 2 (Noun) Diversion, amusement, playfulness.
Notes: This verb may be used as a noun, but remember it is archaic, having been replaced by an aphetic (deletion of initial sound or syllable) variation sport, just like 'coon from racoon and cute from acute. This is a good opportunity to remember that sport can mean "amusement, fun, joke", as to say something in sport or make sport of someone. If you think the noun disport is to short, you may use disportment, though keep in mind that this word is even rarer than today's word. If you need an adjective, disportive will do just fine.
In Play: Today's word is often misused in the sense of "displace, move (to)". Beware! It usually used as a reflexive, with the reflexive pronoun: "I love to watch porpoises disporting themselves among the waves." When used as a noun, this word means "fun, entertainment": "I don't know why they keep Gladys Friday on staff, unless it's for pure disport; everyone pokes fun at her."
Word History: Today's word Old French desporter "to divert, to get carried away" from des- "apart" + porter "to carry", which French inherited from Latin portare "to carry". Portare comes from portus "port, harbor, refuge", which has been borrowed by English as port, porter, and transport, to mention but a few. Port came from the same root which gave us the English verbs ford and fare, as in farewell. The latter word once meant "travel well", from Old English faran "to travel, journey", cousin of German fahren "go by vehicle, be carried". The same root comes up in one of the Funniest Words in English, Norwegian fartlek, from fara "to go, move" + lek "play". (We now thank Ellen Adams for disporting herself by discovering and submitting today's Good Word—about a year ago.)
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