Etymology and semantics of the concept fair play

The article discusses the development and formation of the concept fair play , which is one of the most important concepts of the sports discourse. The given concept is closely related to the organization of social relations. In the course of its evolution, it became a part of sports terminology in the 18th century, and only in the 19th century, it became predominant in the field of sports. The lexeme fair having many different meanings and being difficult to be translated into other languages, it began to be borrowed from English by all other modern languages. The richness and complexity of meanings of the lexeme fair led to the versatility of the concept of fair play itself. This complexity has become apparent specifically in the area of sport.