Origin of Backgammon?

[chu...@istar.ca]

Does any one know the entomology of the word Backgammon? The game
itself dates back some 5000 years but Webster's gives backgammon's
possible origin as middle english. I have another source that infers
that the name Backgammon is orginally Arabic for 'the game of money'.

Please confirm, if you can, and include your source. I will need
evidence to satisfy this debate.

Thanks,
Chuck

[lee]

If you visit the Museum of Humanity (?) in Cairo, they have on display a
board game recovered from Tut's tomb that could (without too much
imagination) easily be the predecessor of today's backgammon,

No dice, of course, but I think they used yarrow stalks (or similar) in
those days.

Lee

In article <34ABF31C...@istar.ca>, chu...@istar.ca writes

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[JCDill]

On Thu, 01 Jan 1998 19:54:45 GMT, in rec.games.backgammon,
chu...@istar.ca shaped the electrons to say:

>Does any one know the entomology of the word Backgammon?

^^^^

http://work.ucsd.edu:5141/cgi-bin/http_webster?isindex=backgammon&method=exact

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Backgammon \Back"gam`mon\, n. [Origin unknown; perhaps fr.Dan. bakke
tray + E. game; or very likely the first part is from E.back, adv.,
and the game is so called because the men are often set back.] A game
of chance and skill, played by two persons on a ``board'' marked off
into twenty-four spaces called ``points''. Each player has fifteen
pieces, or ``men'', the movements of which from point to point are
determined by throwing dice. Formerly called tables.

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[John Goodwin]

On Thu, 01 Jan 1998 19:54:45 GMT, chu...@istar.ca wrote:

>Does any one know the entomology of the word Backgammon? The game
>itself dates back some 5000 years but Webster's gives backgammon's
>possible origin as middle english. I have another source that infers
>that the name Backgammon is orginally Arabic for 'the game of money'.
>
>Please confirm, if you can, and include your source. I will need
>evidence to satisfy this debate.

This from the OED (sorry if you don't get some of the characters on
non windoze systems).

backgammon Also in 7 baggammon.
[Apparently = back-game, back-play (ME. gamen game, play, still in
15th c.), ‘because the pieces are (in certain circumstances) taken up
and obliged to go back, that is re-enter at the table.’ Always called
tables till the 17th c. Compare the prec. word; also the following
early mention of tables along with dice, as a kueade gemen (Kentish
for gamen), a wicked gamen or game:

1340 Ayenb. 45 Kueade gemenes, ase byeŢ Ţe gemenes of des, and of
tables. (The unsatisfactory point is the want of 16th c. quotations
for gamen, which may however have survived dialectally. Cf. also the
analogous after-game in ‘after-game at Irish,’ a game of similar
nature. For other suggestions as to derivation, see Wedgwood, and
Skeat.)]

1. A game played on a board consisting of two tables (usually united
by a hinge), with draughtmen whose moves are determined by throws of
the dice.
c1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 105 Though you have learnt to play at
Baggammon, you must not forget Irish, which is a more serious and
solid game.
1676 D’Urfey Mad. Fickle i. i, I won 300 guineys of him t’other night
at Back-gammon.
1678 Butler Hud. iii. ii. 1062 The Hang~man, Was like to lurch you at
Back-Gammon.
1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 142 And play at billiards, cards, or
back~gammon.
1814 Scott in Lockhart Life (1839) IV. 355 In the evening Backgammon
and cards are in great request.

2. spec. (See quot.)
1883 Boys’ Own Bk. 620 There are three kinds of victory; one the
winning the hit, the second the winning the gammon, and the third
winning a backgammon..If the winner has borne all his men off before
the loser has carried all his men to his own table, it is a
backgammon, and held equal to three hits or games.

3. attrib., as in backgammon board, table.
1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France II. 371 A backgammon table preserved
behind the high altar.
1820 Byron Juan v. x, Like a backgammon board the place was dotted
With whites and blacks.

J.G.

[marina_smith]

In 'Backgammon the Action Game' by Prince Alexis Obolensky and Ted
James it tells how the game was played in ancient Sumer, 5,000 years
ago, goes on to talk about the Romans and how they played it, and then
it says:

"During the first millenium after Christ, backgammon was played
throughout the Middle East. Whether or not the Romans were responsible
for its popularization or if it just continued to be played after
Sumer crumbled is not known. However, in the Journal of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal, H.G. Raverty, in an article entitled "The invention
of chess and backgammon", writes: Ard-Shir Babakan, son of Babak of
the Sasanian dynasty of Iran-Zamin or the ancient Persian empire,
invented it. The game was also sometimes called Nard-i-Shir after
him."

I must say, the explanation of going back and getting gammons doesn't
ring true. The 'back' bit relies upon English, and in English we
always called it tables, after the Latin tabula, until fairly recent
times (well, until a few hundred years ago, anyway). The 'gammon' bit
begs the question of why are gammons called that anyway? It seems more
likely that they got called after the game than the other way around
to me. So, why not the good Babakan as the origin? It sounds right. In
language, we often corrupt a strange or foreign word into something
that does at least sound like our own language. For example, take the
English slang term 'loo' (bathroom) which is a corruption of the
French 'gardez l'eau' (beware - water) a cry from the day when
chamberpots were emptied out of upstairs windows onto the street
(yuck, hmm?). Loo was a popular card game of the 18th century, a
sandbank, and a common place name suffix. Now, if the game was revived
in the West as a result of interest in the Middle East, say in the
Crusades, the Persian term could have spread gradually throughout
Europe as an alternative to the more popular Latin name, finally
taking over in English around the 17th century. Any thoughts?

The game Babakan is said to have invented was not quite the same as
backgammon, but close. If anyone is interested, I can post that bit of
the book too. I would love to get hold of the article that was quoted.

By the way, I have also read somewhere, but can't remember the source,
that the word Backgammon comes from the Welsh and means 'little war'.
Hmm - I don't think so. The Welsh are not renowned as being backgammon
players. I think this must be a happy coincidence.

Marina/mas on fibs

jjjj...@ix.netcom.com (JCDill) wrote:

>On Thu, 01 Jan 1998 19:54:45 GMT, in rec.games.backgammon,
>chu...@istar.ca shaped the electrons to say:
>

>>Does any one know the entomology of the word Backgammon?

> ^^^^
>
>http://work.ucsd.edu:5141/cgi-bin/http_webster?isindex=backgammon&method=exact
>
>From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
>
>Backgammon \Back"gam`mon\, n. [Origin unknown; perhaps fr.Dan. bakke
>tray + E. game; or very likely the first part is from E.back, adv.,
>and the game is so called because the men are often set back.] A game
>of chance and skill, played by two persons on a ``board'' marked off
>into twenty-four spaces called ``points''. Each player has fifteen
>pieces, or ``men'', the movements of which from point to point are
>determined by throwing dice. Formerly called tables.

--
Marina Smith - Reading U.K, to mail me remove XX from address