Disambiguation of the word 'play' from a historical semantic analysis and the current context of ubiquity of entertainment

Abstract

The purpose of this essay was to work on the disambiguation of the senses of the word “play”. Such work is justified as we become aware of the ubiquity of an entertainment phenomenon. For this purpose, within the field of study of the transdiscipline Digital Humanities, we first outline a general view of the ubiquity of an entertainment phenomenon within a society whose processes of digitalization are quickly evolving. Second, we analyze the processes that cause ambiguity to the word “play” from language studies, as well as social logics of naming that underlie its uses. Finally, the term ludus is approached as an etymologic source of 'play' from its naming logics. As results and conclusion, on one hand, we could first unravel the root of the ubiquity of an entertainment phenomenon by studying current social logics of naming for play, whereas on the other hand, we found out that the uses of play within the current digital era are recovering senses that used to be linked to ludus, mainly when one considers that “play” is currently developing a notion that normally relates it to learning forms.