The names of the chessmen and what they connote in different languages

I can only speak for German and Scandinavian, but, in contrast to English, the names of the following pieces are:

Knight: German = Springer "jumper"; Swedish = springare "jumper"

Bishop: German = Läufer "runner"; Swedish = löpare "runner"

Pawn: German = Bauer "farmer, peasant"; Swedish  = bonde "farmer, peasant"

Queen: German = Dame "lady"; Swedish = dam "lady"

Rook: German = Turm "tower"; Swedish = torn "tower"

As you can see, Scandinavian (here represented by Swedish) tends to follow the German model, rather than the English-language one.

It's interesting how the various pieces have been named and conceptualized in different languages. Germans (and slightly later presumably Scandinavian speakers, probably mediated via German) must when the game arrived on their shores have seen the pieces of the newly introduced game and associated them with different things than did speakers of English. So the knight was not a horseman but a "jumper", and the bishop was not a man of the cloth but a "runner". Pawn and Bauer/bonde have some overlap but are still distinct conceptual entities. Even the Queen is known as a "lady" (and not Königin/drottning, as one might expect).

In French, the bishop is neither a bishop or a runner but a "fou" (fool/jester). French pion matches pawn pretty closely.

In English, we don't speak of a "tower" as Germans and Scandinavians do (although the old-fashioned term "castle" persists among the older generations), but of a "rook" which has no etymological value in English as it is originally a loanword from Persian (meaning "chariot"), via Arabic and French. Rook then really points to the Oriental origins of chess, while medieval northern Europeans put their own interpretations on the other pieces, effectively naturalizing them. Not surprisingly we don't find any elephants in the European chess sets.

Can anyone cite examples of differences for other languages? What about Russian, where chess is considered a national game (or even *the* national game?)?

The queen in Estonian (lipp) is a flag. Arabic (wäziir, firzān), Russian (ferz'), Farsi (vazir, farzin), Uzbek (farzin), Hindi (farzī, wazīr) and Turkish (vezir) among others still use the ancient word of no gender firz for today's chess queen.

REFERENCES

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/what-is-the-name-of--this-piece

http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/metro/9154/nap-pieces.htm

http://www.listofchesspieces.com/

http://everything2.com/e2node/Chess%2520pieces%2520in%2520other%2520languages

The Romanian version, if you're interested is:

King: rege = king

Queen: regina = queen or dama = lady

Bishop: nebun = mad man !!(mad as in crazy)

Knight: cal = horse

Rook: turn = tower

Here's their Finnish counterparts:

pawn:    sotilas = a soldier

knight:   ratsu = a steed or a mount

bishop:    lähetti = a messenger or a courier

rook:    torni = a tower

King and Queen as it is, are the same

...and I've been thinking that our post has been forgotten... thanks artfizz !

The table needs update!

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/what-is-the-name-of--this-piece

P.S.
Perhaps this ancient battleship - the Russian Rook - is the same as in the car make LADA. Isn't it?

In Spanish:

pawn: peón = farm worker

knight: caballo = horse

bishop: alfil = doesn't mean anything but comes from an ancient word for elephant

rook: torre = tower

queen: dama = lady

In Hungarian:

King - Király (king)

Queen - Királynő (queen) but officially Vezér which is strikingly similar to the Farsi, Hindi or Turkish words

Bishop - Futó (runner)

Knight - Huszár (hussar - a kind of horseman)

Rook - Bástya (turret)

Pawn - Gyalog (infantry) or the slang word paraszt (peasant)

I hope I got that right. 

Here is the Italian names:

King = Re (King)

Queen = Donna (Lady) or Regina (Queen). The former is used for notation purposes (eg. Dd5), since the 'R' is already used for the King (eg. Rf7); the latter is most commonly used in spoken language (eg. I played my 'regina' to d5)

Rook = Torre (Tower)

Bishop = Alfiere (Standard bearer, but this actually is a deformation of the ancient word 'alfiro', from the persian 'al-fil', the elephant, since they used an elephant-shaped piece for the bishop)

Knight = Cavallo (Horse)

Pawn = Pedone (Pedestrian)

Sa Tagalog;

     King = Presidente                     Knight = Presidential Security Guard

     Queen = First Lady                   Pawns = Botante

     Rook = Malacananang Palace

     Bishop = Cardinal                     JOKE LANG TO !!!!!!!

And here is in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian:

King: Kralj - King

Queen: Kraljica / Dama - Queen

Bishop: Lovac - Hunter

Rook: Kula / Top - Tower / Cannon

Knight: Konj - Horse

Pawn: Pješak / Piun - Footman or 'Piun' a word without a meaning, probably of French 'pion'

I’m surprised to hear that chess is _the_ national sport in Russia.

At any rate, here are the names: either literal translation or transliteration to match pronunciation, in quotes.

King
- king, just the same. Keep in mind, though, that name of the ruler of Russia was “tsar’” (orig. from “Caesar) or “imperator” (emperor). So king is more distant and neutral to us, like something from fairy-tales.

Queen
- “ferz’”, borrowed from Arabic
- rarely: queen

Rook
- “ladya”, old name for a ... boat
- old: “toorah”, old name for siege tower,

Bishop
- elephant
- sometimes officer

Knight
- horse

Pawn - “peshka”, probably meant “footman“ a few centuries ago. Now is used only in chess context or in figurative sense, meaning someone who just fulfilling others’ will: “you are just a pawn”

In Vietnamese:

pawn = tốt

rook - xe (vehicle)

knight - mã (horse)

bishop - tượng (elephant)

queen = hậu

king = vua

idk, these terms kinda resemble how we look at war and how we fight during wartime

Georgian:

Pawn - პაიკი pronounced as "paiki"

Rook - ეტლი - "etli" (cariot)

Knight - მხედარი - "mkhedari" (horseman)

Bishop - კუ - "ku" (turtle) or ოფიცერი - "ofitseri" (officer)

Queen - ლაზიერი - "lazieri" - Chess king's Advisor, this wold used only for this chess piece

I know it's unorthodox, but I always call the bishop 'Bischof' and the knight 'Pferd' (=horse). I think those names are more appropriate than Läufer or Springer.