How did tennis receive its name?

Answer 1

Answer

Gentlemen Only---Ladies Forbidden...

Edit: Actually the above acronym didn't appear until the 20h century. It was probably scottish for something, and it stuck.

There were similar games played in Holland and France. The Dutch game was Het Kolven which may have been shortened to Kolv and then to Golf. The French game was Cholle' The differences between these games and golf is that Cholle' was played in a courtyard and was somewhat like croquet and Het Kolven was played in a town square and involved hitting a wooden ball to targets like a church door.

Women were actually among the first golfers. See: Mary Queen of Scots

She was censured for playing golf when she should have been in mourning over the death of her husband

Answer 2

In France, they used to play it as handball, without rackets. When they struck the ball, they would yell "Tene!" which meant "take that!" in French. so hence the name, tennis.