ON CHESS
V - Origin of the names of Chess-men
An inquiry into the various mutations which the game of chess has undergone in its passage through different nations, affords much curious information. Although the nature of the game itself never seems to have been essentially changed, yet the names and power of the pieces have been subject to much variation: the military character of the game has often been lost eight of; and it may, in its present state, be typical not so much of a military community as of a well-regulated society, in which we find kings, queens, bishops, knights, and peasants.
The king, the principal piece in the game, has always preserved his title; but his consort, the queen, has been raised to her present dignity by a series of remarkable changes, which can be traced with tolerable exactness. The original name for this piece seems to have been the Eastern word Pherz, that is, a counsellor, or general of an army. It has been supposed that the similarity of sound between the words Pherz and Vierge, occasioned the introduction of the latter term among the Europeans: but that the extravagant veneration of the times towards the Holy Virgin, caused the term Vierge to be changed into Fierce or Fert, the old Norman and English term for the queen, and thus the military character of the game became at once lost sight of. In an old Latin poem the queen is called Virgo.
M. Freret, after remarking that among Eastern nations the move of this piece is only from square to square, observes, that the romantic spirit of the times disdained this very contracted motion as too muck resembling the slavery of the Asiatic females, and contrary to the privileges enjoyed by those in Europe, on which account they rendered it as free as possible, by making it the most important of all the pieces. But this remark does not agree with Mr. Harrington'e ingenious observations.
He says: "In most of these (the Eastern) governments, the kings are rather indolent monarchs, and consequently this pieces scarcely moves at all, but is merely to be defended from attacks. The emperor himself being thus indolent, necessarily requires a minister or general, who can protect his master by vigorous and extensive motions against distant insults, in the most remote parts of the board. The piece therefore of the greatest importance, was by the Persians styled Pherz or General. Chess hath universally been considered as an engagement between two armies, and if the piece of the greatest importance is termed the General, this allusion is properly carried on."
Mr. Douce remarks: "Although the title of queen cannot be traced so far back as that of fierce, it is of considerable antiquity, as it is to be met with in French manuscripts of the thirteenth century; and in the Gesta Romanorum, a collection of stories compiled about the beginning of the thirteenth century, this piece is called regina."
About the year 1408, John Lydgate, the monk of St. Edmonsbury, wrote a poem which he dedicated to the admirers of the game royal at chess, from which the following extract is preserved by Dr. Hyde:
To all folkys vertueuse
That gentil bene, and amerouse,
Which love the fair pley notable,
Of the chease, most delytable,
Whith all her hoole full entente,
To them this boke y will presente;
Where they shall fynde and son anoone
How that I nat yore agoone,
Was of a Fers so fortunat,
Into a corner drive and Maat.
The last two lines become intelligible if we read them thus, "The king was by a fortunate queen (of the adversary,) driven into a corner of the chess-board and check-mated." We introduce the quotation however to show that Mr. Douce is not correct in supposing it "not possible to trace the term fers in the English language beyond the time of Chaucer*." But the term queen seems to have come into general use by the year 1474, when Caxton printed the second edition of his Book on Chess, for he describes the queen in the following terms: "Thus ought the quene be maad. She ought to be a fayr lady, sittyng in a chayer, and crowned with a corone on her head, and cladde with a cloth of gold, and above furrid with ermynes." We also find the same, term continued in the reign of Henry the Seventh, as appears from a passage in the Vulgaria | |
of W. Herman, printed at London, 1519. "We shoulde have II kyngis, and II quyens, IIII alfyns, IIII knyghtis, IIII rokis, and XVI paunys."
Mr. Madden thinks that from the pieces found in the Isle of Lewis, and also by the set of chess-men belonging to Charlemagne, of the eighth, or beginning of the ninth, century, the very early appearance of the queen on the European chess-boards is proved, and consequently we must reject the theory which ascribes this introduction to the French, from the fancied similarity between Fierce, or Fers, and the Persian Pherz. That it is to the Greeks we should rather "ascribe the merit or blame of metamorphosing the minister into the queen, and, by that means, of introducing so strange an anomaly as the promotion of a foot-soldier to be a lady." Mr. Barrington also observes, "Another impropriety arises from the pawn's becoming a queen, when he hath reached the last square of the adversary's camp; as it is a suitable reward to the pawn (or foot-soldier) to make him a general, if he penetrates so far through the enemy's troops; but certainly no prowess on his part can entitle him to be transformed into a queen."
Dr. Hyde states, that in Poland and Russia the chess queen is sometimes called the old woman, or nurse.
THE BISHOP. Among the Persians and Arabs, the original name of this piece was Pil, or Phil, an elephant; under which form it was represented on the eastern chess-board. It appears that the Spaniards borrowed the term from the Moors, and with the addition of the article al, converted it into alfil, whence it became varied by Italian, French, and English writers into arfil, alferez, alphilus, alfino, alphino, alfiere, aufin, alfyn, awfyn, and alphyn. It is quite uncertain at what period the bishop first took the place of the elephant. Mr. Madden brings together a number of authorities to show that the term bishop was in use so early as the eleventh or twelfth century. It was in common use in the time of Elizabeth, as appears from ROWBOTHAM'S Pleasaunt and wittie Playe of the Cheasts renewed, 12mo, London, 1562. He says of it, "The Bishoppes some name Alphins, some fooles, and some name them princes: other some call them Archers, and thei are fashioned accordinge to the wyll of the workemen:" and again, Of the bishop, or archer: "In the auncient tyme of the Frenchmen named him Foole, which seemeth unto me an improper name. The Spaniardes named him Prince, with some reason; and some name him Archer;" and, of its form among the English, he tells us, "The Bishoppe is made with a sharpe toppe, and cloven in the middest, not muche unlyke to a bishop's myter."
The French, at a very early period, called this piece Fol, an evident corruption of Fil. Hence, also, the French name for the piece Fou, or the fool, a natural perversion of the original, when we consider that, at the time it was made, the court fool was a usual attendant on the king and Queen: or, as Mr. Barrington observes, "This piece, standing on the sides of the king and queen, some wag of the times, from this circumstance, styled it The Fool, because anciently royal personages were commonly thus attended, from want of other means of amusing themselves."
It is difficult to say why this piece should have been named the archer, unless, as Mr. Douce remarks, "Archers were formerly the body-guards of monarchs, and might have been thought, by some, more proper personages in the game of chess than fools, especially if they were inclined to give it a military turn." This piece has also been called the Secretary. The Russians and Swedes retain the original appellation of Elephant; the Germans call it Läufer, or the Leaper, from the ancient mode of taking over an intervening piece; and the Poles call it Pop, Papa, or Priest. The Icelanders and Danes appear always to have called it Biskup, or Bishop.
THE KNIGHT. This piece has been subject to little or no variation. It is likely that in early times the knight was represented on horseback, and hence the piece has often been called the Horse. On the European board this piece denoted the nobility; but Dr. Hyde states, that among Charlemagne's chess-men it is represented under the form of a centaur. From the peculiar leap of this piece the Germans call it the Springer: the Russians continue to call it the Horse. |
Chess Archeology 
