International book international book of favorite sports_FV | Page 141

The word parkour derives from parcours du combattant, the classic obstacle
course method of military training proposed by Georges Hébert.
Raymond Belle used the term "le parcours" to encompass all of his training
including climbing, jumping, running, balancing, and the other methods he
undertook in his personal athletic advancement. His son, David, further
developed his father's methods and achieved success as a stuntman, and one
day on a film set showed his 'Speed Air Man' video to Hubert Koundé. Koundé
suggested he change the "c" of "parcours" to a "k" because it was stronger and
more dynamic, and to remove the silent "s" for the same reason, forming
"parkour".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ippMPPu6gh4
A practitioner of parkour is called a traceur, with the feminine form being
traceuse. They are nouns derived from the French verb tracer, which normally
means "to trace", as in "tracing a path", in reference to drawing. The verb tracer
used familiarly means: "to buck up". The term traceur was originally the name of
a parkour group headed by David Belle which included Sébastien Foucan and
Stéphane Vigroux.
141