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Post by MelanieS on Jan 14, 2003 15:48:04 GMT -5
I am reading Henry V for the first time, and there is mention of tennis balls. Is this an anachronism? (Like clocks in Julius Caesar?) I always thought Henry VIII was the first to play tennis in Britain, so it would be too early for Henry the Fifth. MelanieS
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The_Turtle
Denizen
Nay, faith, let not me play a woman; I have a beard coming
Posts: 52
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Post by The_Turtle on Jan 15, 2003 6:11:04 GMT -5
It needn't be an anachronism, MelanieS. At a television coverage of Roland Garros last year, during one of those endless rain-intervals, the history of tennis was explained. Apparently tennis was invented in France in the 12th century and was originally called "jes de paume," (the game of the palm.) Obviously it was not played with a racket by then. It was (like you say) in the sixteenth century that the game evolved into the game as we know it today. I daren't say anything about the name 'tennis' but balls to play some form of the game would have been around in early 15th century England.
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Post by Bardolph on Jul 13, 2003 16:08:36 GMT -5
That was an excellent reply. I wonder when the tennis terminology used by H5 would have come about. If memory serves, he uses rackets, set and hazard. Hazard sounds more like a golf term but I have heard that it was used as a scoring term early in tennis.
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