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Greg Strong wrote on Wed, Jun 13, 2007 01:15 AM UTC:I think that this is an interesting piece, and am glad that people are interested enough to suggest names. I, for one, like to reduce the different names for the same piece as much as possible. But I would like as much feedback from the community as I can get before I encode the name of this piece in ChessV. (NOTE: In ChessV, any specific game can change the name of any piece for that game, but ChessV must have, at its core, a single name that one uses to add the piece to new games. How else can a piece be identified outside of any particular game?) And, I would hope that any name that the community endorses is used for the piece in most games in which the community produces. Suggestions so far: Hafiz - Islamic name for someone who has memorized the whole Quran. Magi - The biblical Wise Men Caliph - First 2 letters from Camel, and the word has the Islamic meaning 'successor' or 'representative'. I would add the following: Mage - Since Magi is plural, it doesn't seem quite appropriate. But I like the name Mage quite a bit. Thoughts?
'Mage - Since Magi is plural, it doesn't seem quite appropriate. But I like the name Mage quite a bit.'
My mistake - of course the name should be singular - and I also like Mage a fair bit, certinly preferring it to the other possible singular of Magus. The soft 'g' sounds so much better.
SAGE strikes me as a good choice for the Camel+Bishop piece. Piececlopedia: [Bishop] states: 'Germans gave the piece entirely new names, such as der Alte, which means sage, and the current name, Laufer, which means courier or runner.'
The name Sage is suitable for a piece that is stronger than the Wizard, invented by Dan MacDonald in 1998 for his game Omega Chess. Note that the orginal meaning of wizard was 'wise man'.
I don't like the name 'Caliph'. Mainly because the Caliphs are royalty, and the name just doesn't fit the piece. I would suggest the name Minister, for no specific reason. (I like the name Mage as well.)
I like both the names 'Sage' and 'Mage', but like Sage more than Mage, since M in 8x10 chess can stand for 'Marshall'-the Rook + kNight piece. Everything else being equal, I like to have a given piece name use a letter not otherwise already used for a piece name. - Sam
OK, here are all of the pieces Greg has support for in 8x10 chess in ChessV:
Archbishop BN Standard Bishop B Standard Chancellor RN Standard Elephant-Ferz FA Extended (one or two squares diagonally) General FW Extended (non-royal king) High Priestess NFA Extended (Knight + Elephant-ferz) King K Standard (royal) Knight-General NFW Extended (Knight + non-royal king) Lame Pawn mfWcfF Standard (pawn without initial double leap) Lion HFD Extended (1 square diagonally, 2 or 3 squares orthogonally) Minister NWD Extended (Knight + Woody rook) kNight N Standard Pawn mfWcfF Standard Queen Q Standard Rook R Standard Unicorn BNN Extended Woody Rook WD Extended (one or two squares orthogonally)So, yes, the 'S' for 'Sage' is available. Looks like 'K' and 'L' are used twice, though.
Greg Strong wrote on Thu, Jun 14, 2007 12:36 AM UTC:Ahhh... So the suggestion 'Minister' is already used (sorry - I can't remember all the variants supported and all their pieces. In case anyone is wondering the Minister is the NWD piece in Joe Joyce's Great Shatranj.) So I'm inclined to go with Sage barring objections. And, while we are at it, what about the Rook+Camel piece? Charles Gilman proposes the name 'Carpenter', but I do not like that name for exactly the reasons Fergus once described (i.e., it makes me think of either Jesus or The Carpenters.) Any ideas?
Tower will link to the French and German names for the Rook component. You might want to check on that - I am digging up some old memories here.
Charles Gilman's name for the rook-camel is the one that I have liked to use, Canvasser. In his description, he has a tie-in to both the building-rook element to which Paulowich refers and to the camel element. The name of the piece is intended to suggest its components. It means a person calling at houses for political or other research purposes, reflecting the Rook's modern representation as a building. The first six letters, Canvas, suggest a tent as a nomad's home that might well be packed on a camel. Not only did Charles put worthwhile, valuable, creative thought into the naming of the piece, but his use of the camel-rook in Ecumenical Chess is the first I personally had encountered it. Can anyone tell of an earlier use?
As I understand it there were royal and non-royal caliphs, just as there are royal and non-royal governors. Caliph has the advantages that it can be extrapolated, giving along with Bishop+Knight=Cardinal names for all Bishop compounds with all coprime oblique leapers. Thus Zebra gives Zerdinal, Giraffe Girdinal, Antelope Nardinal, Zemel Zeliph, Satyr Sardinal, Gimel Giliph, Rector Rerdinal... If anyone can think of a better alternative that can be extrapolated as obviously I'm eager to know it. Likewise for the Rook compounds Canvasser gives Rook+Zemel=Zenvasser, rook+Gimel=Ginvasser...
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The Camel+Bishop confluence puts me in mind of the Biblical Wise Men, which leads me to suggest Magi as a possible name for this piece.