olympic

The word 'Olympic' originates from the name of the sanctuary at Olympia in ancient Greece, the site of the original athletic games dedicated to Zeus. The place-name 'Olympia' is itself derived from Mount Olympus, the mythical home of the Greek gods, imbuing the term with an association with supreme height and divine glory. The suffix '-ic' was adopted from Greek into Latin and subsequently into English, forming adjectives that denote a relationship or pertinence. Thus, the literal construction 'pertaining to Olympia' evolved from its specific geographic and historical reference to become the abstract adjective describing anything connected to the ancient or modern international sporting festival inspired by those games.

Structure: olymp (Mount Olympus) + ic (adjective-forming suffix) olymp (from Latin Olympicus, from Greek Olympikos, pertaining to Mount Olympus or Olympia); ic (from Latin -icus, Greek -ikos, suffix forming adjectives meaning 'of, pertaining to, or characteristic of').