Today’s podictionary word brought to you by GoToMeeting. Try it free for 30 days by following the link www.gotomeeting.com/podcast Allow me to read you a little of the Wikipedia entry for trampoline: According to circus folklore, the trampoline was supposedly first developed by an artiste called Du Trampolin who saw the possibility of using the trapeze safety net as a form of propulsion and landing device and experimented with different systems of suspension, eventually reducing the net to a practical size for separate performance. It goes on …the story of Du Trampolin is probably a myth and no documentary evidence has been found to support it. I’m here to tell you that not only has no documentary evidence been found to support it, there is good evidence to refute it.  Every dictionary I checked gives an etymology for trampoline that does not derive from a personal name. The Oxford English Dictionary says it’s from an Italian word trampoli but the American Heritage Dictionary says the Italian word came from Spanish. On the other hand Merriam-Webster says Spanish got it from Italian, but at least they both agree that before either Spanish or Italian the word root was likely Germanic. In Italian trampoli meant “stilts” and although none of the dictionaries go this far, it seems to me logical that the up-in-the-air function of a trampoline might well have adopted the “high walking” name from stilts. The Germanic connection brings us back to a more familiar English word with a connection to walking; tramp. Much is made in various internet articles of the invention of the modern trampoline in 1934 but the OED has as its first citation 1798 from the Times of London in what appears to have been an advertisement for a circus.  It reads Equestrian Performances with Oranges, Forks, Skipping Rope, Hat, Handkerchief, and a curious Equilibrium with a Hoop and Glass. Wonderful Trampolin Tricks, by Messrs. Smith [etc.]. Though this is the first citation, people obviously must have known what a trampoline was, since there is no explanation contained in the advertising copy. Forks, skipping ropes and hats as inducements to come to the circus may seem quaint but I note that oranges would have been an expensive and relatively rare food item in England in 1789, though perhaps not worth the price of admission if you only got to see it and not eat it. Less