Disputatio:Pro-wrestling

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E Vicipaedia

Due to my essay of a couple of weeks ago, I know that wrestling in Roman times was either luctatio (proper greco-roman wrestling) vel pancratium (fighing where everything was allowed but hitting in between the legs and poking in the eyes). The two were different-ish things, but either way, they would be closer to wrestling than saying that they were "gladiatorial and circus games of the Greeks". Should we change that very phrase?--Xaverius 08:35, 28 Maii 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, not least because ludo gladiatorum circenseque Graecorum doesn't mean 'gladiatorial and circus games of the Greeks'. The rest of the first sentence—"Pro wrestling est ludus liber professionalis spectaculum institutus ludo gladiatorum circenseque Graecorum est quorum proventi a conciliatore praedestinantur"—is ungrammatical too. ¶ My eighteenth-century dictionary has (with an asterisk marking nonclassical words): to wrestle, luctor; to wrestle against, obluctor; to wrestle with, colluctor, deluctor; a wrestler, luctator, *palaestrita; a wrestling, lucta, luctatus, luctatio, luctamen, colluctatio; a wrestling-place, *palaestra; a champion at wrestling, *athleta; of wrestling, *athleticus, *palaestricus. ¶ Your pancratium might be more like muay thai (Thai kickboxing), or other "mixed martial arts," especially those fought inside a fenced enclosure called an octagon. IacobusAmor 10:42, 28 Maii 2007 (UTC)[reply]
My favorite on that list, for what it's worth, is Colluctatio professionalis.--Ioshus (disp) 14:21, 28 Maii 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Simply referring to professional wrestling as "ludus novitatis" or "ludus modernus" would be the most accurate Latin term. Ludus is the generic term for the athletic spectacles which Romans went to in large numbers, and is the closest thing to our modern pro-wrestling. Not only did they push entertainment and fight quality over winners and losers, but they may or may not have been predetermined. One of the professors at my university who specializes in this, David Potter, takes this position. The stars of the "ludi" were gladiators, who were hero-worshiped by many children, with their own clay action figures. "Ludus Liber Professionalis" is a bit of a reconstruction, borrowing from the Spanish term fro professional wrestling, "lucha libre," which in itself is using a derivative of the Latin "ludus." -- 14:35, IV Octoberis