The story
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂weh₁-
- Ancient Greekἆθλον (âthlon)
- Ancient Greekᾱ̓θλέω (āthléō)
- Ancient Greekἀθλητής (athlētḗs)
- Ancient Greekᾱ̓θλητῐκός (āthlētĭkós)
- Latināthlēticu
- Middle Frenchathletique
- English todayathletic
Borrowed from Middle French athletique and Latin āthlēticus, from Ancient Greek ἀθλητικός (athlētikós, “relating to an athlete”), from ἀθλητής (athlētḗs, “athlete”): equivalent to athlete + -ic. For more, see athlete. The Super Mario sense is effectively a reborrowing of Japanese アスレチック (asurechikku, “obstacle course”), originally borrowed from English athletic; this sense was itself originally a clipping of the genericized wasei eigo trademark フィールドアスレチック (fīrudo asurechikku, “Field Athletic”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.