From: Kevin Maroney <kjm <at> PANIX <dot> COM>
Date: 13 feb 1994
Subject: What does the name "shogi" _mean_?

That is, I know what the game of Shogi _is_; but what does the name
_mean_? It might not mean anything; after alll, "chess" just means "chess"
(although I know it comes from the Farsee "shah", king, and thus could be
said to mean "The Kings Game"). "Xiang Qi", the name of the Chinese member
of the Chess family, means "the Elephant Game".

Just curious. (As an amusing note: I was in a Chinese bookstore in
Manhattan recently and noticed a very inexpensive Go set for sale. Most of
the writing on the box was in Chinese, but there was a prominent label in
English: "Wei Chi Chess". Wei Chi is the Chinese name for Go, which of
course has nothing to do with Chess; it seems that whoevert labelled the
box thought that Chess meant "intellectual game".)

Kevin J. Maroney|kjm <at> panix <dot> com|Proud to be a Maroney|Proud to be a Yonker
              I blame the failed Giuliani administration.