'Tournament' is Latin for 'turning on horseback' — from 'tornare' (to turn). Wheeling knights in combat.
A series of competitive matches or contests in a sport or game, leading to an overall winner; historically, a medieval martial contest in which mounted knights fought with blunted weapons.
From Old French 'torneiement' (a tournament, a jousting), from 'torneier' (to joust, to tilt, to turn and wheel on horseback), from Vulgar Latin *tornizare, ultimately from Latin 'tornare' (to turn on a lathe), from 'tornus' (a lathe), from Greek 'tornos' (a tool for making circles, a lathe), from PIE *tere- (to rub, to turn, to bore through). The original 'tournament' described the wheeling, turning movements of knights on horseback as they charged, engaged, and circled back — combat as a kind of organized spinning. Key roots: *tere- (Proto-Indo-European: "to rub
A 'tournament' is etymologically a 'turning' — from the wheeling movements of mounted knights. The same root gives us 'turn,' 'tour,' 'tornado' (a turning wind), 'attorney' (one turned to for representation), and 'lathe' (a tool for turning). Medieval combat was, at its linguistic core, an exercise in circles.