Art & MusicGreek → English
Discotheque
/ˈdɪskətɛk/noun
A club where people dance to recorded music.
The Greek roots
δίσκος
dískos
disc, quoit
θήκη
thḗkē
case, store
Literally: “record cupboard”
The story of the word
French discothèque was coined in the 1930s for a record library, modelled on bibliothèque, a book library. Under the German occupation, Paris bars that played records instead of paying a live band took the name, and it crossed into English in the 1950s with the dancing attached. δίσκος is the discus thrown at Olympia, from δικεῖν, to throw. θήκη, a place to put things, also lies inside apothecary, boutique and bodega.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 1950s
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
discdiscusapothecaryboutiquebodega
In a sentence
Her parents met in a discotheque with a floor that lit up from underneath.