Murray's story is elegant and convincing. There is only one problem: it is not more than a highly speculative assumption. What is my objection? Well, Murray forgot the most important task of a scientist: to found his claim by etymological research. Is the claim tenable or untenable? To find an answer on this question I started an investigation (in 1975), first all by myself, later within the scope of a doctoral research under the wings of the University of Leyden (the Netherlands). The first aim was to find the etymology of the French game name jeu de dames, but it appeared to be impossible to achieve my aim without studying a lot of other words in the board game field too, as for instance French pion, Spanish dama = ‘chess queen’ and English checkers = ‘draughts’. This investigation was strictly linguistic. After my promotion in 1997 [Stoep 1997] I continued my inquiries, but aimed at the consequences of my linguistic research for the history of draughts (and chess!) [Stoep 2005].

What are the consequences for Murray's claim? I shall discuss in succession French pion, French jeu de fierges and French jeu de dames, if necessary with their equivalents in other languages.

The claim "Draughts borrowed the name of the chess pawn"

My inquiries led to the following reconstruction.

Some 16th c. names for the singleton in draughts were French dame, Italian dama and Spanish dama. Later, these words acquired a second sense: 'doubleton in draughts'. Under these circumstances draughts players could not easily change thoughts about situations on the board, of course, and for this reason they adopted a new name for the singleton, namely French pion, Italian pedina and Spanish peon. These words were also used by chess players, in the sense of  'pawn'. Did draughts players borrow them from chess players? Definitely not! Words like French pion, Italian pedina and Spanish peon are forms of a  very old word meaning 'foot'. Compare pedestrian, an English word for someone going on foot. Pieces in a board game, for example tables, or chess, received names derived from this old word. For war games as chess and draughts this name is logical: the pawn in chess and the singleton in draughts represent the foot soldier from an army. Sooner or later chess players needed a word for 'chess pawn' and draughts players for 'singleton'; both groups independently chose a word with the sense of 'foot soldier'. Murray neglected his duty to make a historical inquiry before he came to his hasty and wrong claim. Click here for more information.

The claim "Medieval draughts was named after the chess queen"

The medieval name for the chess queen was, among others, fierge (French) and fers (English). Murray [1952:73-74] claimed two references of fierge/fers in the sense of 'draughts singleton'. Click here for the two supposed sources. But both times the word occurred in a chess context, and both times the interpretation 'draughts singleton' is not imperative. I conclude that a French jeu de fierges or an English game of the ferses has never existed.

Murray 1952:73]: The name of the draughts singleton followed the name the chess queen: first fers, and when dame took its place in chess the singleton was called dame. On page 75, Murray quoted the English game name draughts in a text from the early 15th c. This name is inconsistent with his claim on page 73, a contradiction which should be elucidated. It is disappointing Murray omitted this.

The claim "After the Middle Ages draughts was named after the chess queen"

Page 75 of Murray's "A history of board games other than chess" is far from convincing. The French name for 'draughts', jeu de dames, literally meant "game of the chess queens", he wrote. In other words, he considered the game name dames as a semantic extension of the French word dame = 'chess queen'. The first record of this word dame = 'chess queen' in French is found in the late 15th c. work "Eschés de la dame, moralisé". Quotation: "L'invention est à moi estrange à cause que il 's appelle de la dame enragée" (The newly invented game is strange to me because it is called the game of the maddened queen). And how old is the game name jeu de dames? The first record is from c. 1380, said Murray. Click here for a quote. This etymology -which can be found in dictionaries too- is an akward mistake.

Murray based his claim about the birth of draughts on an untenable assumption. It is incomprehensible that such an unfounded claim found its way to the literature of board games as historical truth; obviously Murray was/is such an authoritive board game historian that his claims were/are accepted without verification.