Just got a chance to read through this; some things I noticed:
Melek is Arabic for "king,"
Which dialect is that? I can only find مَلِك (malik) — or, perhaps closer, Hebrew מֶלֶךְ (melech)
[The Emir] is borrowed from Robert Shimmin's game Scheherezade
Afaict it looks like this piece, as well as most of the other Scheherazade [sic] ‘Queens’, was not actually named by Shimmin; H.G. needed names for the ID. Not really sure how best to cite such a thing though
I'm actually not sure where the Snake originated
Betza's Bent Riders article. The shortening to ‘Snake’ is due either to Jean‐Louis or to Eric Silverman, first attested on these pages here
The Satrap moves [as mFmAcWcD]
I assume it's an oversight that you've switched the capturing and non‐capturing moves — Gilman's Satrap operates in pawn/steward directions. Not a big deal ofc; you can trivially swap the Satrap's and Ayatollah's names
the earliest place where I can find [the Arabic/Arabian Spear] is in Hans Bodlander's game Pick-the-Team Chess
Note that in that game, the Arabic Spear is divergent in pawn directions (i.e. it's a mfRcfB or ‘Pawnrider’). The nondivergent piece you describe I remember only as the Princess of several Gilman games, but I'd be surprised if a piece w/ that move wasn't in the larger Shōgis too
As noted in the Piececlopedia, the word "pawn" has its origin in the Sanskrit word "padati"
Pedantically speaking, the word itself only goes back as far as Late Latin pedōnem (pedestrian or footsoldier), albeit as an indirect calque (in French) going back to the Sanskrit term
The emphasis on Camel leaps is certainly striking!
Just got a chance to read through this; some things I noticed:
Which dialect is that? I can only find مَلِك (malik) — or, perhaps closer, Hebrew מֶלֶךְ (melech)
Afaict it looks like this piece, as well as most of the other Scheherazade [sic] ‘Queens’, was not actually named by Shimmin; H.G. needed names for the ID. Not really sure how best to cite such a thing though
Betza's Bent Riders article. The shortening to ‘Snake’ is due either to Jean‐Louis or to Eric Silverman, first attested on these pages here
I assume it's an oversight that you've switched the capturing and non‐capturing moves — Gilman's Satrap operates in pawn/steward directions. Not a big deal ofc; you can trivially swap the Satrap's and Ayatollah's names
Note that in that game, the Arabic Spear is divergent in pawn directions (i.e. it's a
mfRcfBor ‘Pawnrider’). The nondivergent piece you describe I remember only as the Princess of several Gilman games, but I'd be surprised if a piece w/ that move wasn't in the larger Shōgis tooPedantically speaking, the word itself only goes back as far as Late Latin pedōnem (pedestrian or footsoldier), albeit as an indirect calque (in French) going back to the Sanskrit term
The emphasis on Camel leaps is certainly striking!