rugbyyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[rugby 词源字典]
rugby: [19] Legend has it that the game of rugby football was born at Rugby School in Warwickshire in 1823 when, during an ordinary game of football, a boy called William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it. The use of the term rugby for the game is not recorded before 1864, and the public-school slang version rugger dates from the 1890s.
[rugby etymology, rugby origin, 英语词源]
rugby (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
type of football, 1864, after Rugby, public school where the game was played, from city of Rugby in Warwickshire, central England. The place name is Rocheberie (1086), probably "fortified place of a man called *Hroca;" with second element from Old English burh (dative byrig), replaced by 13c. with Old Norse -by "village" due to the influence of Danish settlers. Otherwise it might be *Rockbury today. Or first element perhaps is Old English hroc "rook." Rugby Union formed 1871. Slang rugger for "rugby" is from 1893.