Medalling

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To achieve a medal as recognition for an accomplishment in a competition
2. To adorn with or to confer medals as a symbol of honor or achievement
3. Referring to the process of winning or awarding medals in various events or contests

Etymology: The verb "medal" was first recorded in English in the sense of striking a commemorative piece, but the most surprising fact is that a medal began as a small change coin. The Italian "medaglia" meant "half a denarius," and the word came from Early Medieval Latin "medālia," a form that reached French and then English as "medaille" and "medal." The Latin base is "medius," meaning "middle," which points to a coin split in two or a piece of intermediate value rather than anything commemorative. Over the centuries the word drifted from that modest coinage to the honorific object we know, a disc struck to mark a victory, service, or achievement. The sporting sense of "winning medals" grows from that later meaning, so "medalling" describes the act of collecting such honours in competition.

Synonyms: awarding, medaling, honoring, recognizing, celebrating