Talk:Game pieces of the Lewis chessmen hoard

Copied material to another article
Thincat (talk) 19:00, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

Images in main table
The British Museum do not seem to provide photographs with a sufficiently free copyright licence for us so I have had to use images from a 1909 book, supplemented by photographs taken by visitors. The National Museums Scotland also does not offer suitable copyright but some enterprising person/people have arranged a licence which apparently satisfies WP:OTRS here. Thank you, folks! Thincat (talk) 19:00, 5 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Hello there! Great to see those images being used; there are 42 within the Commons category "Images from the National Museum of Scotland" which were a test batch donated by the museum, as part of an event run with Wikimedia UK. (I can also be found at user:Sara Thomas (WMUK), I'm the Scotland Programme Coordinator.) Lirazelf (talk) 10:55, 7 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi! The photos of the NMS preces were a great asset here so I have thanked Adam Coulson who uploaded them but he doesn't seem to be editing currently. I see in 2015 you wrote "Barriers to image donation will take a long time to overcome". That seems to have turned out to be correct although it looks like you were able to help things along. Thank you. Thincat (talk) 15:55, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

Chance of getting this distribution of pieces from more than four sets
I asked about this at the reference desk. Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2020 February 4. Thincat (talk) 20:28, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

Rooks
Madden lived a long time ago and was rather imprecise, and some of his ideas are passé. Many still call the rooks among the Lewis Chessmen "warders". They never were. People just use the word Madden invented for these pieces. Back when the Lewis Chessmen were made, they used the Old Norse word hrókr for that piece, which meant a hero or special warrior. That's why the rooks among the Lewis Chessmen, and other medieval Scandinavian rooks, are depicted the way they are. It wasn't before the 17th century they started to import alternative terms from Central Europe, like tower instead of rook, and runner instead of bishop. Other figural Scandinavian rooks are not called warders, and the berserkers certainly don't look like warders. There is no logical reason to use a special terminology for The Lewis Chessmen, except that Madden invented the word, and others (but not all) use it. Rook is a neutral term and it is actually more correct. Warrior is an alternative, and it is also correct. I suggest just rook. After all that is the English variant of the ancient chess term, even though it has no meaning in English, other than in chess. Hastein (talk) 21:14, 25 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, I agree (so far as I am knowledgeable!) with that. The references I have seen generally call the pieces "warders" while acknowledging they have the same origins as the modern rooks. Madden is obviously to be seen in the context of his time but he is important because he studied and catalogued the pieces in detail. Thincat (talk) 10:54, 29 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Madden deserves credit for being the first to describe the find extensively, and for understanding what the Icelandic word for the chess piece meant, but he did some mistakes. He seems to have thought that the modern terminology was valid for the past, and to have been unaware of the old Scandinavian chess terminology. It seems that he didn't know that the language was the same in Norway and Iceland, Old Norse, when The Lewis Chessmen were made. The language didn't diverge noteworthy until the mid 14th century. It's logical that chess and chess terminology came to Iceland the normal route, from Norway. It seems that he didn't know about other ancient Scandinavian bishops or warriors either. It's all forgivable.Hastein (talk) 21:58, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

Bishops
It is a widespread misconception that the piece was called bishop only in Iceland and that they used unrelated words with no clerical connections elsewhere. Source criticism is often lacking, and people keep citing each other. For example, it is not correct that the piece was called runner in Scandinavia in old times. It was called bishop before, as even old dictionaries show. In addition there are several medieval Scandinavian bishops in museums. Runner is a late term in Scandinavia. It was imported from Central Europe in the 17th century. Moreover, the term bishop for that piece was used for the first time in Latin texts, which neither are Scandinavian nor Icelandic in origin. The term is not mentioned in any text dating back to the time The Lewis Chessmen were made. Hastein (talk) 01:04, 26 February 2020 (UTC)
 * I've changed the text to explain that the etymology was his opinion. Thincat (talk) 10:56, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

Mitre
I don't know if we should change it, but the mitre's "peaks" are called cornua mitrae in Latin. Cornu means horn, plural cornua. I believe they often are called horns in English in the context of The Lewis Chessmen but I don't know what is most usual. Maybe "peaks" is easier to understand? I have also read that the chess piece was called cornu somewhere a very long time ago, probably the non-figural bishop. Anyway, there are three alternatives 1) peaks 2) horns 3) cornua. English is not my mother tongue so someone else must choose the best word.Hastein (talk) 20:18, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

Student Editing
Hey all, I'm a student preparing to make a brief small edit to this article to add information and citations regarding the design and clothing styles of the game pieces. Feel free to edit or look over what I make, I will try my best to properly add information with citations. I am focusing my edits based on this source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cfr79q.52 LYX9 (talk) 19:00, 21 February 2024 (UTC)