Made in Arabic
rook
الرُّخّ
A small ivory chessman carved in al-Andalus or North Africa: a rukh in the form of two riders, unusual because most Islamic chess pieces were abstract. The Met notes that chess reached Spain from Islamic lands, and its vocabulary came with it. Arabic rukhkh, from Persian, became Old French roc and English rook, and the closing cry shāh māt became checkmate.
- Instrument
- an ivory chess piece, western Islamic lands, 11th–12th century
The path between languagesruḫ → ruḫḫ → roc → rook
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, ملكٌ عامّ
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