From: "Daniel M. Toebbens" hmi de> Date: 18 aug 2004 Subject: Re: The myth of the "kanji barrier" Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Save up to 67% on Omaha Steaks + Get 6 FREE Burgers and a=20 FREE Cutlery Set + Cutting Board! http://click.topica.com/= caacvgpa2i6YsbnuqMaa/OmahaSteaks ------------------------------------------------------------------- On Tue, 17 Aug 2004, E R wrote: [...chess...] > Rooks and Bishops? What was the historical source like? (I would not > want to confuse those two in play especially if touch move is required.) > Did they use towers atop elephants? [...] Actually its most probably a case of mistranslation and, especially with the english names, of random changes. The rook was called in the original indian chess 'ratha', the chariot. The persian name of the rook was 'rukh', still meaning 'chariot'. The italiens renamed it 'rocca', meaning the fortress. From there it became the most important part of the fortress, the tower, which is the name of the piece in most european languages. In english it became rook, which would be the crow, but they still use a tower to represent it. :-) Sometimes the rook is pictured as a war elephant with a small tower on its back; however, in the original version the elephant was a differnt piece: The bishop in the original indian version was a 'gaja', meaning an elephant. This got translated to the arabic 'al fil', still meaning elephant. From there it got its italian name 'Alfiere', meaning flag bearer, and its french name 'le fou', the fool (and in very humble private opinion, the german 'Laufer' and dutch 'loper', meaning courier, is derived from the french name). The English however looked at the piece and interpreted the two tusks of the elephant as a bishops mitre. So, in order to get this back on topic: Mistranslation of the names of chess pieces is an old european tradition. So it is no wonder that we are now mangling the names of the shogi pieces, too. :-) Daniel Toebbens Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Get a Great Credit Card for You Today=20 You can find a credit card to fit your credit needs.=20=20 All types of credit cards -- 0% APRs, Rewards, & Bad Credit. http://click.topica.com/= caacvgua2i6YsbnuqMaf/411Web ------------------------------------------------------------------- --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: = shogi-l shogi net EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a2i6Ys.= bnuqMa.= c2hvZ2kt Or send an email to: shogi-unsubscribe topica com For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: http://www.topica.com/?p=3DTEXFOOTER --^----------------------------------------------------------------