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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| The Rook piece was originally a chariot, but became a tower when it moved to the west. |
| The Russian name for the rook (ladya) means a sailing boat or longship of Northern cultures such as the Vikings. | |
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| Mick Harper wrote: | | The Rook piece was originally a chariot, but became a tower when it moved to the west. |
In chess I gather the rook is shaped as a castle. Maybe that's why it's translated as tower (pyrg = fort - burg ) in Greek. How the Germanic language acquired is puzzling though.
Might the ancient Greeks or Phoenicians have been seeking, say, the Amber of the Baltic?
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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| frank h wrote: | | In chess I gather the rook is shaped as a castle. Maybe that's why it's translated as tower (pyrg = fort - burg ) in Greek. |
The 'castle' could represent a crow's nest
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| Hatty wrote: | | 'crows nest' |
In my school we called the chess piece 'rook' - castle.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Mick Harper wrote: | | The Rook piece was originally a chariot, but became a tower when it moved to the west. | |
I have my suspicions that the game of Chess is very modern and its history was a marketing invention devised by enthusiasts.
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| Hatty wrote: | | The 'castle' could represent a crow's nest |
The chess pieces foreign languages names can be seen on:
http://www.schach-chess.com/Chess_Pieces.htm
Most describe the rook as tower. But Turkish uses Kale = fort.
The puzzle remains as to how the 6th century BC fort of pygri got turned into tower in Greek.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| frank h wrote: | | The puzzle remains as to how the 6th century BC fort of pygri got turned into tower in Greek. |
Hmmm....
Pygri looks like Fiji.
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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| Mick Harper wrote: | | The Russian name for the rook (ladya) means a sailing boat or longship of Northern cultures such as the Vikings. | |
Lada Cars
What's the difference between a Lada and a golf ball?
You can drive a golf ball 200 metres
What do you call a convertible Lada?
A skip
What do you call a convertible Lada with twin exhausts?
A wheelbarrow
A man goes into a car accessory shop and says to the assistant, 'Can I have a hub cap for my Lada?'
The assistant thinks to himself for a moment and then replies, 'OK, it seems like a fair swap'
What do you call a Lada driver who says he has a speeding ticket?
A liar
A man buys a Lada but after only one day of ownership returns it to the garage. 'It's no good mate, the car's no good for me,' says the man to the car dealer. 'Why not?' asks the car dealer. 'Do you see that steep hill over there?' says the man, pointing. 'Well it will only get up to 75 up there'. 'That's not bad really sir, especially for a Lada. I can't see a problem with that'.
'Trouble is,' said the man, 'I live at 95'
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| Ishmael wrote: | | Pygri looks like Fiji. |
Apologies it's not PYGRI but the 6th century BC port of pyrgi near Rome.
Said to be a Greek word meaning tower. Pyrgos places are common throughout Greece and Islands, typically found along the Roman roads.
I suspect tower is a later adoption, seen as part of a castle.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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What came first the town, the tower or the tor?
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| frank h wrote: | | Apologies it's not PYGRI but the 6th century BC port of pyrgi near Rome. |
It still looks like Fiji.
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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| Wile E. Coyote wrote: | | What came first the town, the tower or the tor? |
Tower first I reckon... standing stone/ beacon/ look-out.
What came first, bird-houses or castles/ manor houses? The crenellated parapets and window slits of castles that protected defenders, mainly archers, aren't so different from dovecotes scaled up.
Pyrgos, Greece
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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Pajaro. The Spanish for 'bird'. Isn't Castile supposed to be where 'castle' originated?
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| Hatty wrote: | | Tower first I reckon... standing stone/ beacon/ look-out. |
Apparently the Germanic 'burg' is similarly so derived, but from 'berg' i.e. mountain. How both Greek and German ended up with similar sounding words, pyrg and burg, is a puzzle though.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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Pidgeon.
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