Tuesday 7 April 2009

Living in a Bilingual World (The One About Chess)

Son: Papi, te toca a ti (Papi, it's your turn)
Me: ¿Qué moviste? (What did you move?)
Son: El alfil. (The bishop)
Me: Ah, el alfil. (Ahh, the bishop!)

El alfil. The bishop. El alfil. El alfil. The bishop. El alfil. El. Alfil. EL. ALFIL. 'The teacher pronounces, "The imperfections must lie within ourselves - in our ignorance, and in the records that the first disciples and scribes made of the Prophet's utterances. The very title of our sura, for example, may be a mistranscription of Abraha's royal monarch, Alfilas, which a dropped ending left as al-Fil - the elephant.'


One of the joys of studying languages, more specifically modern European languages, is that one is exposed, not just to the linguistic differences and similarities between them, but also to the historical and cultural factors that brought about that heterogeneity and affinity in the first place. And this is the case with the Spanish word 'alfil'. Whilst reading John Updike's novel 'Terrorist' from which the above citation was taken I was struck by how little I knew about chess, a game/sport from which I have derived much pleasure.

Son: Papi, jaque. (Papi, check)
Me: Ah, sí, jaque. (Oh, yes, check)

In addition, I had never been aware of the marked differences - and similarities, too - that existed in semantics amongst the various languages spoken in Europe (chiefly) when it came to naming the pieces that make up a chess set. And one of these is the bishop. In English, the word takes its meaning after the mitre carried by the Church representative. But French and German are different. In the former the translation is 'fou', same as 'crazy', whereas in the Teutonic lexicon the term is 'Läufer', same as 'runner' and 'carpet'.

Son: Papi, jaque de nuevo. (Papi, check, again)
Me: Sí, ya me di cuenta. "Este niño ya es no es tan niño como cuando le enseñé a jugar ajedrez. Déjame ver como salgo de este lío". (Yes, I already noticed. 'This boy is no longer the same boy I taught chess to. Let's see how I get out of this jam')

The real beauty, though, is provided by the actual word 'chess', ajedrez in Spanish. It is thought that the game was created in the Far East and brought to India where it was baptised 'Chaturanga', meaning 'four forces'. Hence the reason why my chess set has an elephant instead of a bishop; I brought it from Malaysia last year, a present from one of my brothers-in-law who lives in that Asian country. Curiously enough, he had purchased the set in Viet Nam. Back to the word 'chess' and we find that by the time the Moors invaded Spain in the 8th century A.D., a nation in which they stayed for nearly eight hundred years and to whose language they contributed a great deal, the word 'chess' had suffered many changes including the one that apparently gave us the modern spelling of 'chess' in Spanish, 'acedrex' with the 'x' swapping places with the 'c' at some point and the sound becoming like the English 'h'. Hence city names like México and Texas are pronounced in Spanish 'Méjico' and 'Tejas'.

Son: ¡Papi, jaque... mate! (Papi, check... mate!)
Me: ¡Oh, no! (Oh, no!)

And did I ever tell you that the word 'checkmate' can be traced back to the Persian 'sha mat' (dead king)? Well, I guess that's for me and my monarch this time. I blame the bishop, or rather, the elephant.

Copyright 2009

31 comments:

  1. You've combined two of my favortie subjects here! Chess and linguistics! I am fascinated with the various words for the bishop piece. I can see why the Teutonic would be runner or carpet, since the bishop moves in straight lines. And I've never seen a set with an elephant instead of a bishop. Now I know the background. Thanks for a fabulous post, Mr. Cuban.

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  2. Beautiful story........riveting and educational as well.
    I think you've outdone yourself here my friend. Now, I can't wait to see you out-do this out-do (buh...does that even make sense??).

    Steady On
    Reggie Girl

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  3. How artfully crafted and lovingly carved about your subject. I love when an essay creates as much wonder as the topic that lights its fuse. Poet Richard Hugo writes about a triggering town...that the town the poet remembers triggers the poem, but the poem itself leaves town in search of a new world. bravo.

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  4. I liked this one a lot.
    I had already noticed the beauty of the game and started to understand the intricacies of the linguistic connections, but you've just put "the cap on the bottle"...
    (thanks for the visit!)
    Saludos,
    Al Godar

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  5. Thanks for a lovely linguistics lesson Mr Cuban...

    and better luck next time...

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  6. Oh...I loved this post. The combination of the linguistics and chess.

    Chess-haven't played since I was a kid. My grandfather taught me....hmmm...no, I really don't remember the rules. I'd have to relearn. I have a chess set hand carved by my great grandfather...must dig it out.

    I don't suppose you ever saw one of the Star Trek (original) episodes when Spock was playing chess on a multi-leveled board? That always intrigued me....

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  7. Great post my friend, also thank you for the education in linguistics. I love Chess, absolutely adore it. One day in London, give me a chance.

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  8. I've traveled the world in less than the three minutes it took me to read your fascinating post! And, I see you taught your son well. Aren't you glad you did:) Thank you for the informative read.

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  9. Many thanks for your kind comments.

    To be honest, even when faced with the etymology of the word 'Alfil' it was hard for me to believe it. The image of svelte pachyderms sliding diagonally across the battlefield of a chess set was taking Fantasia a bit too far :-).

    And yes, my son has come a long way. Just recently he played at his school's chess tournament and won three, lost two and drew one. Not bad, is it? And his school came in sixth out of more than a dozen.

    Many thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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  10. Un gusto leer tus bilingual-posts :-)
    Mi papá me ensen~ó a jugar ajedrez cuando nin~a y a estas alturas, si ensen~o a la mía, me da jaque mate enseguida... cuánto tiempo sin jugarlo!!
    Un abrazo, Cuban,
    AB

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  11. Aah, I see you've crossed over to the point where your son can beat you in chess. Isn't it a marvel?

    Thank you for the linguistic lesson.

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  12. I am truely enjoying your blog, especially since my roomate and I are currently trying to teach ourselves Spanish for our trips to Cuba. :)

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  13. How interesting about the different words for a universal game. I’m not a chess player either but my son and husband play. I love the word play of checkmate to dead king and bishop to elephant. How much fun! Your posts are always so informative and surprising.

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  14. I am a fan of chess and lover of words. Loving the dual nature of this post. Thanks for the enlightenment.

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  15. This post pulls one in.. analyzing and playing at the same time..in the end the Bishop did it, like a mystery solved. I know I've seen a set with an ivory elephant, and a Ganesha.
    Checkmate, sha mat = dead King..it's mind boggling!
    Lyn

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  16. Many thanks to you for your kind comments.

    Greetings from London.

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  17. This is a great post, German is my second language, I then learned English and French, and it was a fascinating journey discovering which words are the same, or have the same roots in those three languages. Only my native language, Polish, although also an European language has nothing to do with the other three... but it never had any contact with Latin. Thanks!

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  18. Many thanks, Polly, for your kind comment. It's funny that you say that about Polish because I have noticed in my local deli (we have a Polish deli in my neighbourhood) signs in Polish with words that are definitely cognate words in relation to Spanish. But then again, Polish is a Slavic language, I believe, so its roots are different. Many thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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  19. Thanks for an(other) awesome post -coupled with a great linguistics lesson...
    I've beaten my father (my teacher) a coupl of times at chess and my daughter (whom I taught) beats me regularly so I guess i taught her well - can't wait to share my newly acquired knowledge (thanks to your post!)...
    Greetings from the French Alps :)

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  20. Even though my knowledge of chess is minimal, CiL, I think this truly was an interesting piece of writing.

    Words in any context are second only to people in terms of fascination for me. Thank you.

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  21. I much enjoyed this meditation on language, and parenting... I am, as well, constantly amazed by the abilities of the small person that I have raised, and how she surpasses me, already in so many ways...

    un saludo

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  22. My father taught us to play chess. He would often quote Marcel Duchamp before starting the game - “The chess pieces are the block alphabet which shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chess-board, express their beauty abstractly, like a poem. I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.”

    Fascinating etymology....I had absolutely no idea. Thank you Mr. Cuban, for your illuminating post.

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  23. Many thanks for your kind comments. Tessa, that was a superb quote that I will definitely steal and keep to myself as the good thief I can be sometimes :-).

    Greetings from London.

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  24. Very interesting! And noticed you have relatives in Malaysia? You know my husband (who is half Malaysian Chinese) and I lived in Malaysia for a few years?

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  25. Pues, si, Susana, one of my brothers-in-law has lived in Malaysia for almost ten years and we went to visit him last year. I was blown away by the landscape as well as by Kuala Lumpur where we stayed. Many thanks for your comment.

    Saludos desde Londres.

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  26. Hey London, te quiero hacer una pregunta.

    El otro dia me quede pensando de nuevo en el "de nada" y "por nada". Resulta que cuando estudiaba gramatica espanola en la universidad, nos dijeron que "de nada" no era gramaticalmente correcto, pues decimos "gracias por". y yo empece a usar mi "por nada" todo el tiempo.

    No obstante, incluso la RAE acepta "de nada" y casi todo el mundo usa esta version. A mi no me molesta que se use, solo que yo sigo usando la mia, que es la que me parece logica.

    Que usas tu? que te parece correcto? en Internet no hay mucha info sobre eso.

    saluditos

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  27. "Por nada". Don't even get me started. Me parece que se nos pego del francés 'de rien' y del portugués 'de nada'. Pero aunque se acepte el "de nada", la forma correcta es "por nada" no solamente por lo que planteas sino por no haces lo que hagas "por algo".

    Muchas gracias por pasar.

    Saludos desde Londres.

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  28. I must confess Cuban that I have a few bilingual terms that came to mind. You might find these humorous or maybe you recognize them already.

    when my mother thought that a cold would live in my chest she fought if off with "vivaporu," -- Vicks Vapor Rub

    to make sure her hair stayed in place she used "laca" -- hair lacquer aka hair spray.

    and when we came home from market, we made sure to put our groceries in the "frigidaire" -- refrigerator by Frigidaire (an american brand you might know as electrolux)

    Just a couple off the top of my head. Hope you enjoyed them.

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  29. Of course I enjoyed them, Liza. We still use 'laca' and 'frigidaire' in Cuba. Many thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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  30. London, disculpa que me haya demorado en leer tu respuesta.

    me alegro entonces que estemos de acuerdo porque por mucho que oia el 'de nada' no me gustaba para nada, y valga la redundancia. me parece tan logico el 'por' que da pena que el que se use sea el mal dicho.

    y recuerdo perfectamente la profesora diciendo que estaba mal y resulta que nunca mas oi a nadie decirlo o hablar de eso e incluso los traductores en proz y otros sitios de internet, tampoco hablaban de eso.

    en fin, un saludo y gracias.

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  31. No hay POR qué, liset :-).

    Saludos desde Londres.

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