
Shatranj, the predecessor of modern chess - diodorus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatranj
======
contingencies
If you read onward, to according to chess historians Gerhard Josten and Isaak
Linder, "the early beginnings" of chess can be traced [still further] back to
the Kushan Empire in Ancient Afghanistan, circa 50 BCE–200 CE.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushan_Empire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushan_Empire)

The Kushan were a possibly Iranian or Tocharian, Indo-European nomadic people
who had migrated from the Tarim Basin and settled in ancient Bactria. These
are the same people as the famous tartan-wearing Tarim Mummies.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarim_mummies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarim_mummies)
(text) and
[https://encrypted.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=tarim%20mummi...](https://encrypted.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=tarim%20mummies%20tartan&tbs=imgo:1)
(images)

Note the grid layout of the tartan. I wonder if there are any art history
papers on hypothesized sacred geometries of early, pre-Islamic Central Asia?
(We know that, for example, by 2600 BC, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, major cities
of the Indus Valley Civilization (present-day Pakistan), were built with
blocks divided by a grid of straight streets.)

(Edit in response to below: Read onward, ie.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chess#Origin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chess#Origin)
... nobody is disputing chaturanga, the above refers to the pre-chaturanga
origins of chess-like games.)

~~~
arjn
Chess is widely believed and acknowledged by many to have orignated in India
("Chaturanga").

------
ruricolist
See The Chess Variants Pages
([http://www.chessvariants.org](http://www.chessvariants.org)) for other
historic chess variants, such as chaturanga (the original), Tamerlane chess
(like shatranj with extra pieces and a larger board), and Byzantine chess
(played on a cicular board!).

------
smoyer
Very interesting ... since I'm part Welsh, I was interested in the history of
that country and found that a similar game called Gwyddbwyll was adopted from
the Viking game of Hnefatafl (Tafl can be used to describe a whole series of
"table games"). It's interesting to note that the second link below describes
these games as being overtaken by Chess (which the vikings called Skak-Tafl).

[1]
[http://celtnet.org.uk/miscellaneous/gwyddbwyll.html](http://celtnet.org.uk/miscellaneous/gwyddbwyll.html)

[2]
[http://www.gamecabinet.com/history/Hnef.html](http://www.gamecabinet.com/history/Hnef.html)

------
yousifa
modern chess is still called shatranj in arabic & farsi

~~~
contingencies
At the risk of stating the obvious, the Persian etymology is far older (ie.
Arabic [word] derives from Persian [word]) since Islam and Arabic [as a
coherent linguistic and cultural force] didn't exist until many hundreds of
years later.

Can any competent Persian readers consult Persian language sources to
determine an Iranian take on the etymology of the word? Wiktionary at
[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shatranj](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shatranj)
states the following etymology for the modern English loan word: "From Arabic
شطرنج (šaṭranj), from Persian شترنگ (šatrang), from Middle Persian ctlng
(čatrang), from Sanskrit चतुरङ्ग (čaturaṅga)."

(Edit: 1. _Arabic does not derive from Farsi_ .. (Obviously) I was referring
to the Arabic word in this case being a loan-word from Persian. 2. _Arabic was
written before farsi was_ An interesting tangent... it seems you are correct
if limited examples of pre-standardized Arab-region languages written in pre-
Arabic scripts are considered, which were allegedly circa 0CE written in
Aramaic ... but _{{citation-needed}}_ on relevance to anything at all,
really.) ... TLDR; Arabic as a cultural or linguistic force appears to begin
with Islam, ie. far later, whereas Persian had weight far earlier, ie. in the
period under discussion.)

~~~
yousifa
As to this specific word, I do not know where it originated. However, Arabic
does not derive from Farsi and Islam did not introduce Arabic. Arabic was
written before farsi was(~800 BC vs ~600 BC), but the languages are much
older.

Also, Farsi and Arabic have different roots. Farsi did not start using the
Arabic alphabet until ~700 AD. Modern Farsi does have a lot of Arabic words
used because of Islam.

~~~
Behaafarid
Quick note, Persian is the proper and historical name of "Farsi" in English.
Farsi is the local name (and what most Persian speaking people call their
language in their own language), much like "French" vs "Français" in English.
To be pedantic, it is improper to say "I speak Français", rather one should
say "I speak French".

