You searched for: “gymnasia
gymnasium (s) (noun); gymnasiums, gymnasia (pl)
1. A large room equipped for physical exercise or training of various kinds; for example, in a school or a private sports club: Some of the physical education at schools takes place in the gymnasium, a large hall that allows many students to be active in sports at the same time.
2. In Europe, primarily in Germany and some other European countries, a secondary school where the students are prepared for advanced education in universities: Almost all of the towns and cities in Germany have a gymnasium, where the students can receive an "Abitur" after successfully completing eight or nine years of education.

The ancient Greeks placed a high value on both physical and mental fitness. Each important city in Greece had a public area set aside in which young men would gather to exercise, compete in sports, and receive training in philosophy, music, and literature.

Living in a warm climate and not wanting to be encumbered in their activities by unnecessary clothing, the Greeks would typically do their exercising without wearing any apparel.

3. Etymology: the term given for the exercise area was gymnasion,; literally, "school for unclothed exercise"; from the Greek verb gymnazein, "to exercise with no clothing"; which is a derivative of the adjective gymnos, "unclothed".

The Greek gymnasion, became the Latin gymnasium, which was used in two distinct senses to mean both "an exercise ground" and "a public school".

—Compiled from Webster's Word Histories;
Merriam-Webster Inc.; Springfield, Massachusetts; 1989; page 208.
This entry is located in the following units: gymno-, gymn- (page 1) -ium + (page 2)