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ajedrez

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word ajedrez

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1250 Libro de Alexandre and Calila e Dimna More words from the 13th century
Borrowed from
Arabic الشطرنج via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Sanskrit चतुरङ्ग

Pronunciation

  • /axeˈdɾeθ/, [a.xeˈð̞ɾeθ], /axeˈdɾes/[1]

Forms

ajedrez m (plural ajedreces)[1] Old Spanish has axedrez, axadrez and the forms with ⟨c⟩ acedrex, açedrex and acedreyx;[2][3] aljedrez appears in the 15th century and survives in Andalusia, and arcidriche is an old word for the chessboard.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish axedrez, borrowed from Andalusian Arabic الشطرنج (aššaṭranǧ), from Arabic شطرنج (šiṭranj).[4][1][3] The Arabic word came from Middle Persian 𐭰𐭠𐭲𐭫𐭠𐭭𐭢 (čatrang), which goes back to Sanskrit चतुरङ्ग (caturaṅga, “having four limbs”).[4][1][3] The Sanskrit name refers to the four arms of the Indian army, infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots, which the pawns, knights, bishops and rooks of the game stand for.[5][6][4] Gómez de Silva explains the initial ⟨a-⟩ as the Arabic article ال (al-), assimilated to the following consonant.[7]

The old variant acedrex, with the first palatal dissimilated, has a parallel in Andalusian Arabic, and Corominas compares the final ⟨z⟩ with the form xahariz of zafariche.[5] Portuguese xadrez and Galician xadrez have the same source, as has the old Portuguese acedrenche.[5][3] The other Romance languages name the game with words that match Old Spanish escaques.[5] According to Benary, cited by Corominas, the game goes back in India at least to the early 7th century.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word about 1250, in the Libro de Alexandre (axadrezes in one manuscript, acedrejes in the other) and in Calila e Dimna (axedrez).[5][6] The Poridat de las poridades of about the same date already uses it for the game: it compares the counsellor next to the king with the alferza beside the king en los trebeios del acedrex “among the chess pieces”.[8]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose uses the word for the game, for a set of pieces and for a variety of the game: his Libro de ajedrez, dados y tablas of 1283 describes a grant açedrex made in India after the way old kings drew up their armies.[9][8] Nebrija gives Latin equivalents such as latronum ludus and tabula latruncularia.[10] Covarrubias tells a story of its invention by a wise man who wished to teach a tyrant that a king without the help of his men is weak.[11]

Autoridades (1726) describes the pieces and the board and calls the game an image of a battle.[12] In 1817 the Academy added a nautical sense, the netting or grating also called jareta.[13][4] In the Dominican Republic the word names a children's game like noughts and crosses, played with pebbles.[14][15] Spanish passed the word to Philippine languages, as Tagalog ahedres.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – axedrez in Calila e Dimna, axadrezes and acedrejes in the Libro de Alexandre.[5][6]
  • 1283 – Alfonso X's Libro de ajedrez, dados y tablas.[8][9]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija records axedrez, juego de axedrez and tablero de axedrez.[10]
  • 1513 – first record from the Americas, a set of chess in Puerto Rico.[16]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias tells the story of the game's invention under axedrez.[11]
  • 1726 – Autoridades has agedrez and axedrez.[12]
  • 1817 – the Academy's dictionary has the spelling ajedrez and the nautical sense.[13]
  • 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Arabic.[17]

Meanings

Noun

  1. chess, a board game for two players, each with sixteen pieces of different value that move and capture by fixed rules on a board of 64 squares.[4][1]
  2. A chess set, the pieces used for the game: Le regalaron un ajedrez de madera.[4]
  3. (nautical) A netting of ropes or a wooden grating, the jareta.[4]
  4. (Dominican Republic) A children's game like noughts and crosses, played with small stones.[14][15]

Word family

  • ajedrecista
  • ajedrecístico
  • ajedrezado
  • Portuguese xadrez

Usage notes

The plural is ajedreces.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. ajedrez
  3. ^ a b c d e Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. acedrenche
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. ajedrez
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 94
  6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ajedrez
  7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
  8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
  9. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024)
  10. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv
  11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 249
  12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 115
  13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 33
  14. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
  15. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org
  16. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
  17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 37

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Ajedrez.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/ajedrez. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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