Where does “para-athlete” come from?

para-athlete (English) comes from English Pará, from Portuguese Pará, from Portuguese Pera, from Portuguese espera, from Portuguese esperar, from Old Portuguese asperar, from Old Spanish esperar, from Latin spērō — to succeed, to prosper.

para-athlete (English): a sportsperson with a disability; a track and...

Definitions

  1. a sportsperson with a disability; a track and...

Ancestry of “para-athlete”, step by step

para-athlete traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via English Pará

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishParáA former subunit of currency in several countries in the Ottoman/Turkish and Yugoslav regions
2PortugueseParáa state in the North Region of Brazil
3PortuguesePerapear
4Portugueseesperawait
5Portugueseesperarto wait; to hope; to expect; to anticipate
6Old Portugueseasperar
7Old Spanishesperarto wait for, await
8Latinspērōto hope, expect
9Latinspeshope; expectation, anticipation, apprehension
10Proto-Italicspēshope
11Proto-Indo-Europeanspéh₁sprosperity, success
12Proto-Indo-Europeanspeh₁-to succeed, to prosper

via English athlete

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishathleteA participant in a group of sporting activities...
2Latināthlētawrestler, athlete
3Ancient Greekἀθλητήςa combatant, champion, especially a prizefighter;...
4Ancient Greekἀθλέωto contend for a prize, combat, wrestle; to be an...
5Ancient Greek-έωUsed to form verbs from nouns, adjectives and...
6Proto-Indo-European-éyetiForms causative imperfective verbs from roots;...
7Proto-Indo-European-yetiCreates transitive imperfective verbs from roots

via French athlète

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchathlèteathlete
Every word from Proto-Indo-European speh₁-Every word from Proto-Indo-European spéh₁sEvery word from Proto-Italic spēs