#TIL

There's a #chess piece that moves along diagonals.

* In #Spanish is called "alfil", which comes from "elephant" in #Arabic
* In #English it's "bishop", #Portuguese "bispo", #Tagalo "obispo", probably from a time when the Catholic church had more weight than elephants in armies?
* In #French it's "fou", "crazy person".
* In #German it's "Läufer", "runner".

H/T:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_of_
es.wiktionary.org/wiki/alfil

#languages #Deutsche #Español #Français #Portugues

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@mdione

My theory is the game pieces originally resembled an Indian medieval army, but in Europe it turned into the whole European feudal society. So the first row is the castle (hence the two towers), with pieces representing knights and dames, clerics and the royalty; and the second the peasants (undistinguished, since for the nobility they were all the same).

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