Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Gymnasium |
GymnasiumNoun1. A school for students intermediate between elementary school and college; usually grades 9 to 12. 2. Athletic facility equipped for sports or physical training. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Gymnasium" was first used: 1598. (references) |
Etymology: Gymnasium \Gym*na"si*um\n.; plural English Gymnasiums, from Latin expression Gymnasia. [Latin expression, from the Greek expression, from to exercise (naked), from naked.]. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Gymnasium can have following meanings:
- Gymnasium - a school of secondary education found in several European countries (approx. equal to highschool of USA)
- Gymnasium (ancient Greece) - an educational/sporting institution in Ancient Greece
- Gym - a place for physical exercise
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Gymnasium."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The gymnasium of the Greekss originally functioned as the school where competitors in the public games received their training, and was so named from the circumstance that these competitors exercised naked (gymnos).
Terminology
The gymnasium formed a public institution as distinguished from the palaestra - a private school where boys received training in physical exercises, though the term palaestra also often refers to the part of a gymnasium specially devoted to wrestling and boxing.
Origins
The athletic contests for which the gymnasium supplied the means of training and practice formed part of the social life of the Greeks from the earliest times. They took place in honour of heroes and gods; sometimes forming part of a periodic festival, sometimes of the funeral rites of a deceased chief. In the course of time the Greeks grew more attached to such sports; their free active life, spent to a great extent in the open air, fostered the liking almost into a passion. The victor in any athletic contest, though he gained no money prize, was rewarded with the honour and respect of his fellow citizens; and a victory in the great religious festivals was counted an honour for the whole state. In these circumstances the training of competitors for the greater contests became a matter of public concern; and accordingly special buildings were provided by the state, and their management entrusted to public officials. The regulation of the gymnasium at Athens is attributed by Pausanias (i. 39. 3) to Theseus. Solon made several laws on the subject; but according to Galen it was reduced to a system in the time of Cleisthenes.
Staff
Ten gymnasiarchs, one from each tribe, were appointed annually. These performed in rotation the duties of their office, which were to maintain and pay the persons who were training for public contests, to conduct the games at the great Athenian festivals, to exercise general supervision over the morals of the youths, and to adorn and keep up the gymnasium. This office was one of the ordinary public services, and great expense was entailed on.the holders. Under them were ten sophronistae, whose duty was to watch the conduct of the youths at all times, and especially to be present at all their games.The practical teaching and selecting of the suitable exercises for each youth were in the hands of the paedotribae and gymnastae, the latter of whom also superintended the effect on the constitution of the pupils, and prescribed for them when they were unwell. The aleiptae oiled and rubbed dust on the bodies of the youths, acted as surgeons, and administered the drugs prescribed. According to Galen there was also a teacher of the various games of ball.
Buildings
The gymnasia built to suit these various purposes were large buildings, which contained not merely places for each kind of exercise, but also a stadium, baths, covered porticos for practice in bad weather, and outer porticos where the philosophers and men of letters read public lectures and held disputations.
Historical Development
The gymnasium of the Greeks did not long remain an institution exclusively devoted to athletic exercises. It soon began to be applied to other uses even more important. The development arose naturally through the recognition by the Greeks of the important place in education occupied by physical culture, and of the relation between exercise and health. The gymnasium accordingly became connected with education on the one hand and with medicine on the other. Due training of the body and maintenance of the health and strength of children were the chief part of earlier Greek education. Except the time devoted to letters and music, the education of boys was conducted in the gymnasia, where provision was made, as already mentioned, for their moral as well as their physical training. As they grew older, conversation and social intercourse took the place of the more systematic discipline. Philosophers and sophists assembled to talk and to lecture in the gymnasia, which thus became places of general resort for the purpose of all less systematic intellectual pursuits, as well as for physical exercises.In Athens there were three great public gymnasia: Academy, Lyceum and Cynosarges - each of which was consecrated to a special deity with whose statue it was adorned; and each was rendered famous by association with a celebrated school of philosophy. Plato's teaching in the Academy has given immortality to that gymnasium; Aristotle conferred lustre on the Lyceum; and the Cynosarges was the resort of the Cynics.
Plato when treating of education devotes much consideration to gymnastics (see especially Republic iii. and various parts of Laws); and according to Plato it was the sophist Prodicus who first pointed out the connection between gymnastics and health. Having found such exercises beneficial to his own weak health, he formulated a method which was adopted generally, and which was improved by Hippocrates. Galen lays the greatest stress on the proper use of gymnastics, and throughout ancient medical writers we find that special exercises are prescribed as the cure for special diseases.
Classical Legacy
The Greek institution of the gymnasium never became popular with the Romans, who regarded the training of boys in gymnastics with contempt as conducive to idleness and immorality, and of little use from a military point of view; though at Sparta gymnastic training had been chiefly valued as encouraging warlike tastes and promoting the bodily strength needed for the use of weapons and the endurance of hardship. Among the Romans of the republic, the games in the Campus Martius, the duties of camp life, and the enforced marches and other hardships of actual warfare, served to take the place of the gymnastic exercises required by the Greeks. The first public gymnasium at Rome was built by Nero and another by Commodus. In the middle ages, though jousts and feats of horsemanship and field sports of various kinds were popular, the more systematic training of the body which the Greeks had associated with the gymnasium fell into neglect; while the therapeutic value of special exercises as understood by Hippocrates and Galen appears to have been lost sight of.For modern uses of the term "gymnasium', see Gymnasium (school) and gym.
Original text from 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Gymnasium (ancient Greece)."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A gymnasium is a school of secondary education in parts of Europe. The word "γυμνασιον" (gymnasium) was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for the education of young men. Other types of secondary school are called Realschule, Hauptschule and Gesamtschule in Germany. These are attended by about two thirds of the students. A Gesamtschule largely corresponds to an American high school. Students who graduate from Realschule or Hauptschule (usually after year 9 or 10) continue their schooling at a voactional school until they have full job qualifications. These two types of German secondary school are practically unknown in other parts of the world.
In the Germanic, Scandinavian and the Benelux countries gymnasium has, at least since the Reformation in the 16th century, had the meaning of a secondary school preparing for higher education, at university. In general, Gymnasiums provide more generic education, as opposed to vocational secondary schools which provide more specialized education.
The final degree is called Abitur, Artium, Matura or Student and it usually opens the way to professional schools directly. The final two or three years at a Gymnasium are therefor equivalent to the first two years at a US college.
- Countries with Gymnasium schools
- Austria (ends with Reifeprüfung)
- Belgium (?)
- Croatia (4 years, starting at age 14/15, ends with Matura)
- Denmark (?)
- Germany (6-9 years, starting at 5th or 7th grade, Abitur in 12th or 13th grade)
- Luxembourg (?)
- Netherlands (6 years, starting at age 12/13)
- Norway
- Sweden (3 years, starting at age 15/16)
- Switzerland (?)
In countries like Croatia, most university faculties only accept students from high schools that last four years (rather than three). This includes all Gymnasium students but only a part of vocational high schools, in effect making Gymnasium the preferred choice for all pupils aiming for university diplomas.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Gymnasium (school)."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Secondary education, or secondary school, is a period of education which follows directly after primary education (such as middle school), and which may be followed by tertiary education. The purpose of a secondary education can be to prepare for either higher education or vocational training. The exact boundary between primary and secondary education varies from country to country and even within them, but is generally around the seventh to the tenth year of education, with middle school covering any gaps. Secondary education occurs mainly during the teenage years. Primary and secondary education together are sometimes referred to as "K-12" education, especially in the United States.
Nature of secondary education in different nations
Secondary education is referred to by various different names in different countries, including high school in the United States and Australia, gymnasium in Germany, Austria and Scandinavia, or middle school in the Netherlands.
- Secondary education in the United Kingdom: grammar school
- Education in Germany, Education in Sweden, Education in Austria: gymnasium
- Secondary education in the United States, Education in Canada, Education in Australia: high school
- Senior high school: Education in Taiwan (no "high school", only middle school)
- Secondary education in Japan: Kôtôgakkô
- Secondary education in France: lycée
- Middle School: Education in the Netherlands
See also
- Primary education -- Secondary education -- Post-secondary education -- Tertiary education -- Quaternary education
- School -- Preparatory school
- Education by country
- List of colleges and universities by country
External Links
- Graduation School essay tips
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Secondary education."
Synonyms: GymnasiumSynonyms: gym (n), lycee (n), lyceum (n), middle school (n), secondary school (n). (additional references) |
| Synonym by domain: gymnasiums (social sciences, sports & leisure). |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Arena | Noun: arena, field, platform; scene of action, theater; walk, course; hustings; stare, boards; (playhouse); amphitheater; Coliseum, Colosseum; Flavian amphitheater, hippodrome, circus, race course, corso, turf, bear garden, playground, gymnasium, palestra, ring, lists; tiltyard, tilting ground; Campus Martins, Champ de Allars; campus. |
School | Noun: school, academy, university, alma mater, college, seminary, Lyceum; institution; palaestra, Gymnasium, class, seminar. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Gymnasium |
| English words defined with "Gymnasium": Batule ♦ Calistheneum, Conistra ♦ Gymnasia, Gymnasiums. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "Gymnasium": EXERCISE ♦ INSTRUCTOR, PHYSICAL ♦ modern grammar school. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "Gymnasium": gymnast. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Gymnasium" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Danish (high school), Dutch (high school), German (college, grammar school, gymnasium, high school), Latin (gymnasium, school for gymnastics, sports centre), Swedish (college, gymnasium, high school, senior high school, upper secondary school). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Do you have anything better to do, then sit around in a gymnasium all day staring at a dance marathon (Gilmore Girls; writing credit: Povl Erik Carstensen; Sebastian Dorset) You have nothing better to do, then sit around in a gymnasium all day staring at a dance marathon (Gilmore Girls; writing credit: Povl Erik Carstensen; Sebastian Dorset) | |
Clever | You are an engineer if you ever burned down the gymnasium with your Science Fair project. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Gymnasium Jim (1922) Jeffries Exercising in His Gymnasium (1901) Gymnasium Exercises and Drill at Newport Training School (1900) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Figure 37. Assman aspirating psychrometer, used to determine relative humidity by comparing dry and humid air temperatures. The instrument was designed on principles discovered by the German Ernst Ferdinand August, the director of the Gymnasium of Berlin, in 1825. Professor Richard Assman of the Meteorological Institute of Berlin, built this instrument about 1886. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |  | U.S. Army. Finney General Hospital, Thomasville, Ga. : General view- Swimming Pool and Gymnasium. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | The political gymnasium. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Five girls lying on mat in gymnasium in front of basketball scoreboard, Western High School, Washington, D.C. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Gymnasium, St. Anselm's College, Manchester, New Hampshire. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | U. of M., Ann Arbor, Gymnasium. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Ann Arbor, the gymnasium. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Manhattan Beach Coast Guard training station. The gymnasium is one of the busiest places at Manhattan Beach Coast Guard training station. The physical education program is handled by many noted exponents of boxing, wrestling, track and judo. Paul (Tiny) W. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Gymnasium at the Hightstown school. New Jersey. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, Massachusetts. Gymnasium. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Gymnasium roof" by Ricardo Colombo Commentary: "Timeout !." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Within this market, the major gymnasium equipment chains are Fitness Show, Fitness Company, Imperio, and All Fitness. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Gymnasium" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Gymnasium" is used about 157 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 157 | 25,059 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "Gymnasium": gymnasium suit. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "Gymnasium"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | gjimnaz (college, gym, middle school), palestër (gym, palaestra, palestra). (various references) | |
Arabic | قاعة رياضية, حجرة للألعاب الرياضية, الجمنازيوم (gym). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | гимнастически салон (drill-hall, gym). (various references) | |
Chinese | 體育館 (gym, stadium), 健身房 (Gymnasia, Gymnasiums). (various references) | |
Czech | tìlocvièna (gym). (various references) | |
Farsi | ورزشگاه (Stadium), زورخانه , دبیرستان (School). (various references) | |
Finnish | voimistelusali. (various references) | |
French | gymnase. (various references) | |
German | turnhalle (gym, sports hall). (various references) | |
Greek | γυμναστήριο (gym). (various references) | |
Hebrew | אולם התעמלות (gym), גימנסיה (high school, secondary school). (various references) | |
Hungarian | tornaterem (gym, gym hall, gymnasia, palaestra, palestra), tornacsarnok (gym, gymnasia). (various references) | |
Indonesian | gedung olahraga. (various references) | |
Italian | palestra (gym). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 稽古場 (training room), 体育館 , 体操場 (drill ground), ジプシー音楽 (German, giant, giant panda, Giants, gibberellin, gym, gymkhana, gymnastics, gypsy music, gyro, gyrocompas, gyrocompass, gyrocopter, gyropilot, gyroscope, Jacquard, jar, jargon, jerk, jerky, jersey, Jim Crow, journal, journalism, journalist, journalistic, journey, young people who sit on the ground or sidewalk). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | たいそうじょう (drill ground), たいいくかん, ジム (gym), けいこば (training room). (various references) | |
Korean | 체육관 (Gymnasia, Gymnasiums). (various references) | |
Manx | thie lheiltys, boayl lheiltys. (various references) | |
Norwegian | gymnastikksal. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ymnasiumgay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | ginsio (gym), liceu (lyceum). (various references) | |
Romanian | gimnaziu, gimnazial, salã de gimnasticã (gym), liceu (grammar school, high school, lycee, lyceum, public school, secondary school). (various references) | |
Russian | гимнастический зал (gym). (various references) | |
Sepedi | boithobollelo. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | gimnazija (high school), gimnastička dvorana, sokolana. (various references) | |
Sotho | sethala. (various references) | |
Spanish | gimnasio (gym, house). (various references) | |
Swedish | gymnastiksal (gym). (various references) | |
Thai | โรงพลศึกษา. (various references) | |
Turkish | spor salonu (coliseum, fitness center, gym), lise (high, high school, lycee, senior high school). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | гімнастичний зал (gym), гімназія. (various references) | |
Welsh | campfa. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | gynmastikos. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | gymnasium, palestra. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "Gymnasium": gymnasiums. (additional references) | |
| |
"Gymnasium" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: gymnazium. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "Gymnasium" (pronounced ji'mnā"zēum) |
| 4 | -z ē u m | cesium, magnesium, symposium. |
| 3 | -ē u m | alluvium, ammonium, aquarium, atrium, auditorium, axiom, bacterium, barium, beryllium, medium, millennium, minium, moratorium, myocardium, nephridium, neptunium, niobium, nobelium, opium, opprobrium, osmium, palladium, pandemonium, paramecium, petroleum, planetarium, Plasmodium, plutonium, podium, polonium, potassium, premium, presidium, promethium, protium, psyllium, radium, cadmium, calcium, chromium, colloquium, compendium, condominium, consortium, crematorium, delirium, deuterium, disequilibrium, emporium, equilibrium, europium, fermium, gallium, geranium, gonium, hafnium, harmonium, helium, Herbarium, holmium, honorarium, idiom, indium, iridium, lawrencium, linoleum, lithium, requiem, rhodium, selenium, sodium, stadium, strontium, superpremium, tedium, tellurium, thallium, thorium, titanium, tritium, uranium, vanadium, yttrium, zirconium. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-g-i-m-m-n-s-u-y" | |
-2 letters: amusing, magnums, mayings, summing. | |
-3 letters: animus, gamins, gummas, imaums, magnum, maying, musing, saying, yamuns. | |
-4 letters: agism, amins, ayins, gains, gamin, gammy, gaums, guans, gumma, gummy, imams, imaum, magus, maims, mains, mangy, manus, miasm, minas, mingy, minus, munis, mynas, sagum, sigma, suing, summa, unais, unsay, using, yagis, yamun, yangs, yuans, yugas. | |
-5 letters: agin, aims, ains. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-g-i-m-m-n-s-u-y" | |
+1 letter: gymnasiums. | |
+4 letters: magnanimously. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
