How did the game chess get its name?
The game of chess seems to have gotten its name from a mispronunciation. While the origins of chess are a little cloudy, the name of the game was chaturanga in ancient India, and chatrang in Persia. The Persians called the King the shāh, which the Europeans began calling the game. The theory is that merchants coming to Europe bought ornamental king pieces as curiosities, the ended up calling the game what Persians called kings. The difference between shāh and chess is just a mispronunciation.
