Language Matters | Where did the term ‘Paralympics’ come from? Examining its origin and evolution in meaning
Although the word began as a combination of the words ‘Olympics’ and ‘paraplegic’, the meaning of the term is now far more inclusive
The Paris Olympics may be over, but the 2024 Paralympics is now in full swing.
The origins lie in a sports competition organised by Dr Ludwig Guttmann of Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the UK, almost eight decades ago, for second world war soldiers with lower spinal cord injuries affecting their lower limbs.
The word for this condition is paraplegia, and it refers to the paralysis of the lower half of the body.
This is the Latinised form of the (Ionic) Greek word paraplēgia, meaning “paralysis of one side of the body”, from paraplēssein or “strike at the side” with the prefix “para-” meaning “beside”. A selection of meanings of this prefix in English are seen in words like parallel (“beside” + “one another”), paradox (“beyond” + “expectation”) and paramedic (“resembling” + “medic”).
Those with upper spinal cord injuries that cause impairment to the person’s upper and lower limbs are quadriplegics or tetraplegics – from Latin quadri- or Greek tetra- for “four”, referring to all four limbs.
