The Rook: Chess' greatest mystery

I have decided to post a discussion. Which to many Chess.com's users means that once again I have come up with an idea to spark a sophisticated intellectual debate. 

The topic I present today is about the Rook. A piece shrouded in such deep mystery, that I am not able to even present it appropriately. 

The rook is like an onion, with many layers. To keep the attention of the readers I wish not to discuss all of them today. Although I encourage any rook related discussion, today I want discuss what a rook actually is. 

As you know , all other pieces are modelled after some sort of human counterpart. 

1. The Bishop is a cult leader in human society 

2. The Knight is a sword wielding equestrian , who finds time to hold the door open for ladies 

3. The King is a ruler,  as well as a size specification of a bed

4. The Queen is the female version of number 3

5. Pawns, I assume are some sort of foot soldiers

 And then we come to The Rook, some sort of stone tower that moves? Very weird, why did the chess creators create such a creature? Please discuss, and hopefully somebody can reveal at least one vail about our mysterious friend. 

You lost me at Rooks 

The rook is possessed by the spirits of dead pieces from ancient games, that is why it can move.

In its fundamental form the R represents  the high ground on the battlefield. 

Geez, a little chess history will put an end to all of these descriptions. A rukh is a chariot. A bishop is an elephant. The queen is new and was a vizier. Read:

Do you have a link to the PDF?

Here's my link to the book:

I'm sorry but I don't think you understand what I meant. I mean link as in a URL link. Like a website link that I can access. Sometimes books have PDF copies online, I was wondering if you had a link for the one book you posted earlier. Sorry for the confusion. 

He was just being funny. Wow, that's a big book. I wonder if there are Cliff Notes...

funny? you mean snobbish?

It's a citadel lol And it doesn't really move, it controls long lines just like a citadel would. If soldiers were coming you'd be able to see them coming from far away lol 

What do you mean it doesn't move? It definitely moves. 

I understood you. I don't seek or share links to copyright violations. Buy the book. There's now a paperback edition for about 10 Euros.

There needs to be some sort of executive summary so that Babyhands and his minions can access the content.

Paperclip.

The term Rook, or rōk comes from the Persian version of the game, which dates back over 1500 years.  A Rōk means a chariot in Persian.  In the ancient Indian game Chaturanga, the first ancestor to chess, the game consisted of the 4 units of the Indian army, footsoldiers, horsemen, Chariots and Elephants (pawns, Knights, Rooks and Bishops in modern chess).  As well as 1 raja (king) and 1 adviser (queen).

When the game was imported into Persia, they changed the names of the piece to match their language.  Notable for this topic they changed the rook from the sanskrit Ratha to Rok, and the king from raja to shah.

The game moved to Arabia, North Africa, and entered Europe through the Moorish occupation of Spain c. 900CE.  It then reached England around 1200CE.  The term Rok was kept in Arabic, and also found its way into English as Rook.   The term rook is used widely in many languages, not just English.  It remains the only piece name not translated in English. 

The term shah actually is where we get the term "Check" or Sha-k.  Germans actually call chess, Schach which lingers from the Persian word Shah. 

The design of the rook as a castle is probably  because the English (and the rest of Europe for that matter) never used or likely even saw a Chariot.  So they picked the tower design instead.

Hope that helps. I learned a lot of chess history from the book:

Birth of the Chess Queen: A History
by Marilyn Yalom

Good synopsis and book recommendation. Yalom's book is more focused than Murray's, but easier reading. Although she also works in many languages, she writes primarily in English. She also attempts to paraphrase or summarize the contents of obscure primary sources, where Murray quotes from them.

Yeah I would definitely recommend Murray for a rigorous history.  The Birth of a Chess Queen is useful for a study of feminism and the chess queen itself in European chess, but it really just glosses over the rest.

Very interesting, thank you for the answers. I'm glad that today we were able to get closer to understanding the mystery of the Rook. Well done.