- published: 01 Dec 2014
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Shatranj (Devanagari: शतरंज, Middle Persian: Chatrang) is an old form of chess, which came to the Western world from India. Modern chess gradually developed from this game.
The Arabic word shatranj is derived from the Sanskrit chaturanga (catuḥ="four", anga="arm"). In Middle Persian the word appears as chatrang, with the 'u' lost due to syncope and the 'a' lost to apocope, e.g., in the title of the text Mâdayân î chatrang ("Book of Chess") from the 7th century AD. In Persian folk etymology, the word is sometimes re-bracketed as sad ("hundred") + ranj ("worries"), which might appear quite meaningful to players. The word was adapted into Arabic as shatranj, and then into the Portuguese xadrez, Spanish ajedrez, and Greek ζατρίκιον; but English chess and check come via French échecs (Old French eschecs) from Persian شَاه (shāh = "king").
The game came to Persia from India in the early centuries of the Christian Era (Common Era). The earliest Persian reference to shataranj is found in the Middle Persian book Karnamak-i Artaxshir-i Papakan, which was written between the 3rd and 7th centuries AD (Common Era). This ancient Persian text refers to Shah Ardashir I, who ruled from 224–241, as a master of the game: