It depends on whether one went to Oxford or Cambridge.
Horse or Knight? What are the pieces called in YOUR country? :D
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In Romanian,
Bishop = Fool (literally translated as one who is crazy),
Knight = Horse
Rook = Tower
Interestingly, the word for "check" is the same as the word used for "chess".
I am from Denmark.
Pawn- Bonde (a kind of farmer)
Knight - Springer (actually it means jumper)
Bishop- løber (runner a person who runs)
Rook- Tårn (Tower)
Queen and King is the same.
Check in Denmark - skak (it means chess( skak is a persian word shah which means King))
spanish
king-king(rey)
queen-lady(dama)
rook-tower (torre)
bishop-bishop (alfil)
knight- horse (cabayo)
pawn-pawn (peon)
Pig Latin:
- Awnpay
- Ookray
- Ightknay
- Ishopbay
- Eenquay
- Ingkay
Pirate:
- Popiwownon
- Rorookok
- Knonightot (The 'K' is silent!)
- Bobishoshop
- Qouqeenon
- Kokinong
In Romanian the knight is called horse.
Other pieces:
King == king
Queen == lady (or, less frequently, queen)
Rook == tower
Bishop == fool 
Interestingly enough, in Chinese chess the pawn on the red side is a bing (not as to be offensive to google, and the black side does not have google for a soldier) and the black side is zu. Also, in Chinese chess there are bodyguards that surround the King and the King + his bodyguards cannot leave a designated area. Instead of squares they use a grid and pieces are placed on the crosses.
hmmm the edition of Analyse du jeu des eschecs by Philidor available in Google Books is from 1777 calls the bishop a fou.
http://books.google.com/books?id=YiYCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=philidor+1777&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z7PFUb-MKZDM9gTr2IHQDA&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAw
So, that's 12 years before the revolution.
And from: http://reocities.com/TimesSquare/metro/9154/nap-pieces.htm "The fil 'elephant' was the weakest piece in the old game and placed in the array where the bishop now stands. It could be moved to only eight squares by jumping to any of the squares diagonally two squares away. The word fil is derived from the Persian pil 'a chess piece or an elephant'. Because Arabic lacks p, the pil became fil. The prefix al- is definite article, so the Europeans called this piece as fil or alfil (> aufin).
In French usage fou replaced aufil during the 16th century. The weird semantics (meanings) of this French word ('chess bishop' vs. 'fool' and 'crazy') has transferred to Romanian and Greek. "
Pawn = Bauer = peasant
Rook = Turm = tower
Knight = Pferd = horse
Bishop = Läufer = runner
king and queen (König and Königin) remain the same.
In Italian:
Pawn = Pawn (Pedone) (Pawn and pedone share the same Latin etimology, pedonem, that meant foot soldier)
Knight = Horse (Cavallo)
Bishop = Standard Bearer(Alfiere)
Rook = Tower (Torre)
Queen = Queen (Regina)
King = King (Re)
It seems that the name for Bishop in Italian, German and Frech came from the Arabic 'alfil' (elephant, as said above), and then it changed to a word already existent in those languages that was phonetically similar to the original. The funny thing is that the etimology of the Italian 'alfiere' (meaning standard bearer, not the chess piece) also comes from Arabic (al-faris) and meant knight 
It's a pony!
Jun 22, 2013
0
#34
Argentina:
Rey - King
Reina / Dama - Queen / Lady (Both valid)
Alfil - Bishop
Caballo - Horse
Torre - Tower
Peon - Pawn
naisel napisał:
It seems that the name for Bishop in Italian, German and Frech came from the Arabic 'alfil' (elephant, as said above), and then it changed to a word already existent in those languages that was phonetically similar to the original. The funny thing is that the etimology of the Italian 'alfiere' (meaning standard bearer, not the chess piece) also comes from Arabic (al-faris) and meant knight
In Russian the Bishop is still called elephant but the name (slon) was translated and is not similar to Arabic
On the other hand, Russian name for the Queen (ferz) comes from Persian which is even more original than Arabic
Holland:
pawn=good
rook=better
queen=best
:-)
TheBigDecline wrote:
Pawn = Bauer = peasant
Rook = Turm = tower
Knight = Pferd = horse
Bishop = Läufer = runner
king and queen (König and Königin) remain the same.
This has come twice, but I always thought the knight was properly called Springer (jumper) in German ? But I learnt that when I was 12 or so, so I am not going to argue with German speakers...
See for example the symbol of the Springer editions.
Jun 23, 2013
0
#38
Iceland - Ísland
Pawn - Peð
Rook - Hrókur
Knight - Riddari
Bishop - Biskup
Queen - Drottning (Sometimes called ''drolla'')
King - Kóngur
Irontiger wrote:
TheBigDecline wrote:
Pawn = Bauer = peasant
Rook = Turm = tower
Knight = Pferd = horse
Bishop = Läufer = runner
king and queen (König and Königin) remain the same.
This has come twice, but I always thought the knight was properly called Springer (jumper) in German ? But I learnt that when I was 12 or so, so I am not going to argue with German speakers...
See for example the symbol of the Springer editions.
Both names are correct. But that's how I learned it as a kid and it stuck with me ...
In Chinese:
King: 王 (wang) "King"; 将 (jiang) "General"
Queen: 后 (hou) "Queen"
Bishop: 象（sometimes 相) (xiang) "Elephant"
Knight: 马 (ma) "Horse"
Rook: 车 (ju; che) "Chariot"
Pawn: 兵；卒 (bing); (zu) "Soldier"; "Pawn"
Some more terms:
Capture: 吃 (chi) "Eat"
Castling: 王车易位 (wang che yi wei) "King-rook translocation" (翼易位 [yi yi wei] "queenside castling"; 王翼易位 [wang yi yi wei] "kingside castling")
Check: 将 (jiang) "general" ("watch your king!")
Checkmate: 将死 (jiang si) "king/general dies"
Move: 着 (zhao) "move"
En passant: 通过 (tong guo) "go through; travel through"
Blunder: 大错 (da cuo) "big mistake"
That's all I got.