The word checkmate in chess comes from the Persian phrase Shah-Mat, which means The king is helpless. Etymology The term checkmate is an alteration of the Persian phrase shāh māt (شاه مات) which means, literally, the King is helpless (or ambushed, defeated, or stumped, but not dead). It is a common misconception that it means the King is dead, as chess reached Europe via the Islamic world, and Arabic māta (مَاتَ) means died or is dead. However, in the Pashto language (an Iranian language), the word māt (مات) still exists meaning destroyed, broken. Moghadam traced the etymology of the word mate. It comes from a Persian verb mandan (ماندن), meaning to remain, which is cognate with the Latin word maneō and the Greek menō (μενω, which means I remain). It means remained in the sense of abandoned and the formal translation is surprised, in the military sense of ambushed (not in the sense of astonished). Shāh (شاه) is the New Persian word for the monarch. Players would announce Shāh when the king was under attack (in check). Māt (مات) is a Persian adjective for at a loss, helpless, or defeated. So the king is in mate when he is ambushed, at a loss, helpless, defeated, or abandoned to his fate. The term checkmate in modern parlance is a metaphor for an irrefutable and strategic victory. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmate
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 21:28:20 +0000
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