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Die Sportkultur war immer ein Spiegel der Gesellschaft. Sie wandelte sich mit ihr und stand immer in einem Zusammenhang mit soziokulturellen und politischen Bedingungen der Gesellschaft. Die bunte Welt von Sport und Spiel erweckt schon immer das Interesse vieler Menschen, und zwar sowohl als Zuschauer als auch als Sporttreibende... The aim of the following article is the analysis and development of the term turnen (gymnastics) in Germany.
Both history and contemporary meaning of the word gymnastics are of importance here. In Germany, the term is associated with 19th Century and with the inventor – Friedrich Ludwig Jahn. Gymnastics are still very popular in Germany due to historical aspects.
Jahn named all the exercises gymnastics; he created them based on his predecessor – GutsMuths. Jahn developed his concept of gymnastic exercises, but the goal of gymnastics was entirely different. Patriotism and love to the motherhood was first. It can be seen in the language of gymnastics, created by Jahn. The German origin of the vocabulary was of utter importance. It clearly has purist character. Jahn took care of the correctness and purity of the language of gymnastics. He added everything to endeavor to remove foreign vocabulary, that is other than German. At the same time, the language was supposed to enable easy communication between students and teachers who did gymnastics.
The term gymnastics in 19th century was not only associated with sports, but it was also a national movement, the goal of which was freedom of the human being, unity of Germany, and preparation of the society to the possibility of conflict with Napoleon.
Etymologically, the Duden Herkunftswörterbuch explains the meaning of the word gymnastics as follows: to turn, rotate, twist and in Early High German as young soldier. As for the origin, it indicates borrowing from Latin "tornare", which means "to roll".
German dictionary Trübners indicates the same meaning as Duden, and so does the etymological dictionary of German language Kluge, however it indicates, that the the term turnen (gymnastics), was introduced by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, as a word of allegedly German origin, superseding the term Gymnastik, describing physical education (gymnastics).
With time, the role and meaning of this worded changed. Today, the termgymnastics is mainly associated with sports. In Germany it is performed above all in sport clubs. It is a way to express an active lifestyle and a basis for various modern forms of activity.
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