Re: Names of chess pieces in (con)langs

On 3/25/06, Carsten Becker <carbeck@...> wrote:
> How likely would it be for a culture not located on earth to
> come up with exactly the same game?
Exactly my dilemma.  My culture is alien, so I need to design alien games.

On the other hand, I also have the otherdimensional race who inspired
the legend of the Djinn; they have contact with Earth, in the same
part of the world as chess's origin, so would probably have names for
chess stuff...

> So the game comes from India? At least the names you gave, Mark, suggest
> that.
The oldest ancestor yet found is Indian, at least.

> B = Bauer ('Peasant')
= Pawn (P) in English

> T = Turm ('Tower')
= Rook (R)

> S = Springer ('Hopper')
= Knight (N in English,  S internationally; the use of S comes from
the German name)

> L = Läufer ('Runner')
= Bishop (B)

> K = König ('King')
= King (K)

> D = Dame ('Lady')
= Queen (Q)

> The game is called 'Schach' (/SAX/, from pers. _shah_, I
> suppose).
Correct.  It was called "The Kings' Game" or "The Game of Kings";
"Shah" is Persian for "King" and was adopted as the short name.
Although it's hard to tell, the English name "Chess" has the same
origin, but the word took a roundabout route on its way to English via
French; the English words "chess" and "check" are etymologically the
same.  ("Checkmate"/"Schachmatt" come from "Shah mat", which
reportedly means something like "The King cannot escape" in Arabic...)




--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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