ABSTRACT
Disport comes from the medieval disport are, to move from one place to another, transport, divert, distract. The reflexive se disport are means to distract, divert or amuse oneself, and similar meaning of amusement, fun or recreation attaches to the word disport, and originally to the word sport. The adjective sportsmanlike is defined as “characteristic of or befitting a sportsman: hence legitimate from the point of view of the sportsman.” The Encyclopaedic Dictionary covers much the same ground, giving people firstly “a game, pastime or amusement,” secondly, “outdoor recreations such as grown-up men indulge in, especially hunting, shooting, fishing and the like,” and in support of this restricted definition cites from Clarendon that “the king was excessively devoted to hunting and the sports of the field,” though, as in the passage quoted, this meaning is only obtained by means of qualifying expression, it by no means seems to clinch the matter.
