25 Jan Why is it called paragliding?
Why is it called paragliding? It is one of the most common questions among people discovering the sport for the first time. The answer lies in the origin of the word, and it is far more literal than it seems.
The sport was born in France, and its French name, parapente, is a contraction of two terms:
- Para, from parachute. It is not the Greek prefix meaning “next to”, as is sometimes claimed, but the first part of the word parachute.
- Pente, French for slope. The hillside you run down to take off, instead of jumping from a plane.
Parapente means, literally, slope parachute. And that name describes precisely how the sport began.
The English word paragliding keeps the same para from parachute and replaces the slope with gliding, the thing the wing actually does once it is in the air.
If you want to experience it for yourself, take a look at our paragliding flying areas in Tenerife and book your flight.
In the late 1970s, French mountaineers began flying down with parachutes from the slopes they had just climbed, rather than walking back. What came out of that was a wing designed no longer to fall slowly but to fly, longer and more efficient, able to gain height by working the air currents. The sport has changed completely in materials and safety, yet the name stayed and still tells you where it came from.
Today paragliding is recognised and regulated as an aeronautical discipline in many countries. If you would like to read more about the sport and its history, Wikipedia offers a thorough overview.