hello from Italy

Zuppone Marco

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Mar 12, 1995, 2:51:36 PM3/12/95

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Hello,
I'm a new backgammon player from ITALY and I've a curiosity :
Why backgammon is called backgammon ???
Sincerely
MArco Simone Zuppone
zup...@mailbox.iunet.it

Dick King

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Mar 14, 1995, 1:24:37 PM3/14/95

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This is _not_ a serious answer, but...

as a lad i theorized that the name "backgammon" came from the fact that the
board was often printed on the back of an inexpensive chess/checkerboard.

-dk

Albert Steg

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Mar 14, 1995, 5:18:26 PM3/14/95

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Here's an account of backgammon names taken from one of my older books.
The Jacoby/Crawford book also has an extensive chapter on BG history for
those who enjoy this sort of thing.

From _How to Play the New Backgammon_, Leila Hattersley, 1930:

"The source of our own title for this widely popular game is disputed
by historians. Some ascribe it to the Welsh "bach," (little), "cammum,"
(battle), while tohers trace it's source to the Saxon "baec" (back), and
"gamen" (game), i.e., a game in which the men may be set back.

"That Backgammon was played by the ancient Saxons and Welsh is
indisputable. And it appears equally certain that both acquired it from
the "ludus duodecim scriptorum" or twelve-line game of the Romans. The
Roman Legions must have spread their beloved twelve-line game over the
greater part of Europe, for everywhere the Roman eagles perched some form
of the game became popular.

"In most European countries to-day [1930], Backgammon is played under
the French designation of Tric Trac, but the Italians accord it more honor
by denominating it Tavola Reale, the royal table.

"Our earliest accounts of the game, very nearly as we now play it,
come form the England of Chaucer's time when it was known as Tables."

Marina Smith

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Mar 15, 1995, 2:20:20 PM3/15/95

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In article <3jvjc8$g...@sgi.iunet.it> zuppone@public "Zuppone Marco" writes:

: Hello,

Welcome tothe wonderful world of backgammon! Apparently, "backgammon"
is Welsh for "little war". The game used to be known as "Tables" in
English and was known as that in Roman times (Mensae?). What do you
call it in Italy?

--
* Marina Smith * Reading, U.K. *

Stephen Turner

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Mar 16, 1995, 1:27:23 PM3/16/95

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In article <795295...@pericles.demon.co.uk>, mar...@pericles.demon.co.uk (Marina Smith) writes:
|>
|> Welcome tothe wonderful world of backgammon! Apparently, "backgammon"
|> is Welsh for "little war". The game used to be known as "Tables" in
|> English and was known as that in Roman times (Mensae?). What do you
|> call it in Italy?
|>

Chambers dictionary disagrees. It says
"BACK, because the pieces are sometimes taken up and obliged to go
back ... and Middle English 'gamen', play."

In Greek, it (the version we play) is called 'portes' or 'doors'. They
see points made as doors they can step through. It makes good sense if
the 'door' is in the middle of the opponent's prime.

Stephen R. E. Turner
Stochastic Networks Group, Statistical Laboratory, University of Cambridge
e-mail: sr...@cam.ac.uk WWW: http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~sret1/home.html
"Ad infinitum, if not ad nauseam." (Interviewee on BBC Radio 4)

James Eibisch

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Mar 16, 1995, 4:14:11 PM3/16/95

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Apparently it came from the Welsh name, baec gamon (spelling almost
certainly wrong), which means 'little war'. I don't know why this was
taken up in place of the more common name tric trac (and variations
thereof).

--
James Eibisch Liar. What's in your toolbox?
Reading, England