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échiquier

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Etymology and origin of the French word échiquier

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1160 Roman d'Énéas More words from the 12th century
Ultimate origin
Persian شاه
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French échec
Romanian eșec
French échiquier

Pronunciation

Forms

échiquier m (plural échiquiers)[1] Old French eschaquier, then eschequier and eschiquier;[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman eschekier.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French échec + -ier, first as eschaquier and later eschequier.[4][3][5][2] Échec comes, probably through Spain, from Persian شاه (šāh, “king”), a word Bloch and Wartburg call Arabo-Persian.[3][6][1]

Cognate with Occitan escaquier and Italian scacchiere.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Roman d'Énéas (about 1160) a eschaquiers describes a surface divided into squares like a chessboard; the board for the game itself, jeu eschaquier, appears in Chrétien de Troyes' Cligès about 1176.[4][8]

Semantic evolution

In Anglo-Norman texts the word meant the royal treasury from 1170, because medieval bankers did their accounts on chequered cloths;[4][8] Medieval Latin scaccarium is recorded in this sense in England in 1118 and in Normandy in 1140, and the TLFi finds it hard to say on which side of the Channel the use began.[4][8] Pierre Guiraud proposed instead that the eschequier was where people were “put in check”, that is, made to render account.[8] From 1280 the word named the sovereign court of justice of Normandy, the Échiquier de Normandie, which became the Parlement of Rouen.[4][8] English exchequer comes from the Anglo-Norman escheker, and in the 17th century French borrowed the word back from English for the British finance department (chef baron de l'Eschiquier, 1601).[9][8][3]

The phrase en échiquier describes things set out in alternating squares, as trees or, from 1704, ships in formation.[4][8] The figurative sense of a field where a close contest is played out dates from 1806–1807, in Joseph de Maistre's letters.[4][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1160 – A eschaquiers “chequered” appears in the Roman d'Énéas.[4][8]
  • 1170 – Anglo-Norman eschekier means the royal treasury in the Quatre livres des rois.[4]
  • c. 1176 – Chrétien de Troyes uses jeu eschaquier for the chessboard in Cligès.[4]
  • 1280 – The word names the court of justice of Normandy.[4][2]
  • 1601 – Chef baron de l'Eschiquier refers to the English financial administration.[8]
  • 1704 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records a naval formation en échiquier.[4][2]
  • 1806–1807 – Joseph de Maistre uses it figuratively for a battlefield.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A chessboard, the board of 64 alternately light and dark squares.[10][11][4]
  2. Any surface covered with equal squares of alternating colours;[10][11] en échiquier: in a chequered arrangement.[10][11]
  3. (figurative) A field where interests or parties confront one another: l'échiquier politique.[10][11]
  4. (military, nautical) A staggered formation of troops or ships.[4][11]
  5. (history) The sovereign court of justice of Normandy.[4][11]
  6. Échiquier: the British Exchequer, the finance ministry;[10][3][12] chancelier de l'Échiquier.[10][3][12]

Word family

  • échiqueté

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 19, 166b
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  12. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
Cite this entry

“Échiquier.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/%C3%A9chiquier. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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