Other forms: javelins
A javelin is the long spear athletes throw as far as they can. Throw the javelin, the javelin final, a javelin thrower.
The men's javelin was redesigned in 1986 to move its centre of gravity forward, because throws were getting long enough to reach the far end of the stadium — the record was cut by about ten metres overnight. The throw must be over the shoulder and the point must land first. Note that the javelin was a real weapon before it was an event, and the modern form still has to be thrown, not slung.
1nounjavelinThe long spear athletes throw as far as they can.
“The javelin weighs about eight hundred grams.”
javelin is a throwing spear.
Old French javeline is a diminutive of javelot, from a Gaulish word for a forked branch. Gable comes from the same Celtic fork.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʰeh₁bʰ-
Proto-Celtic
*gablā — fork, forked branch
cel-gau
gabulum
Vulgar Latin
*gabalus
Old French
javelline
Middle English
chafeveleyn,gavelong
English, today
javelin
From Middle English chafeveleyn,gavelong, from Old French javelline, diminutive of javelot, diminutive of javel, from Vulgar Latin gabalus, from cel-gau gabulum (compare Old Irish gabul (“fork”), Welsh gafl), from Proto-Celtic gablā (“fork, forked branch”), from Proto-Indo-European gʰeh₁bʰ-. The Old French term was also borrowed into Middle Low German - as gaveline, and into Middle High German - as gabilot. Cognate with gavelock, a doublet of gaffle.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA