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CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP RECORD

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A CLAIM
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A relationship—not a generated explanation. Both endpoints, every editorial field, every citation, and every dossier reuse are preserved below.

CHILD / LATER FORM / attestedOld French · Old French period · chess pieces

eschés

chess pieces; chess

OPEN NODE 208 ↗
DESCENDS FROM→
PARENT / EARLIER FORM / attestedClassical Arabic · early Islamic chess vocabulary · king in chess

šāh

king; the king in chess

OPEN NODE 199 ↗
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THE COMPLETE RELATIONSHIP

EVERY FIELD, NOT A FAIRY TALE

SOUND CHANGE

Arabic /ʃ/ is adapted as Old French /tʃ/ with an added initial vowel; an alternate šatranj route remains separately graphed.

SEMANTIC CHANGE

The chess “king” call becomes a plural name for pieces and then the game.

CHRONOLOGY

Medieval Arabic-to-Romance chess transmission.

SCHOLAR / EDITORIAL AUTHORITY

Merriam-Webster Editors

CONFIDENCE

probable — Merriam-Webster routes the word through šāh; Encyclopaedia Iranica groups English chess with descendants of the traveling game-name šatranj.

EDITORIAL STATUS

reviewed

02

CITATION REGISTER

SOURCES ON THIS EDGE

S02
ChessHeadword summary; history of chess

Iranica groups English chess with descendants of the traveling game-name šatranj.

challengesAUDIT SOURCE ↗ORIGINAL ↗
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EDITORIAL REUSE

WHERE THIS CLAIM APPEARS

RELATION / 192chess

eschés → šāh

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