checkmate

[nickel]

Στο γλωσσάρι μας λέει «σαχ και ματ, ρουά και ματ», αν και στις μέρες μου το λέγαμε «ρουά ματ». Και οι πιο έξυπνοι πιστεύαμε ότι σημαίνει «πέθανε ο βασιλιάς». Λάθος (;).

checkmate
mid-14c., from O.Fr. eschec mat, from Arabic shah mat "the king died" (see check (n.)), which according to Barnhart is a misinterpretation of Persian mat "be astonished" as mata "to die," mat "he is dead." Hence Persian shah mat, the ultimate source of the word, would be literally "the king is left helpless, the king is stumped." As a verb, from late 14c.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=checkmate&searchmode=none

και
The term checkmate is an alteration or Hobson-Jobson of the Persian phrase "Shāh Māt" which means, literally, "the King is helpless" (or "ambushed", "defeated", or "stumped", but not "dead"). It is a common misconception that it means "the King is dead", as chess reached Europe via the Islamic world, and Arabic māta مَاتَ means "died" or "is dead" (Hooper & Whyld 1992), (Davidson 1949:70), (Sunnucks 1970), (McKean 2005), (Golombek 1976:27).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmate

 

[drsiebenmal]

Εδώ γκρεμίζονται πεποιθήσεις αιώνων! :) Έναν περσοαραβολόγο παρακαλώ!

 

[daeman]

Εδώ γκρεμίζονται πεποιθήσεις αιώνων! :) Έναν περσοαραβολόγο παρακαλώ!

Stumped, mate?

 

[Marinos]

Προσπάθησα να το επιβεβαιώσω αλλά το περσικό λεξικό μου (F. Steingass, 1892) είναι λίγο ασαφές εδώ: ερμηνεύει τη λέξη مات ως He died, he is dead; conquered, subjected, reduced to the last extremity (especially at chess), checkmated; astonished, amazed, perplexed. Σα να μπερδεύει δηλαδή την αραβική με την περσική λέξη. Απ' ό,τι φαίνεται χρειάζεται ένα λεξικό παχλεβί -αλλά τέτοιο δεν έχω .

 

[sarant]

Πάντως το ίδιο etymonline, στην ετυμολογία του matador, γράφει:
matador, lit. "killer," from matar "to kill or wound," probably from Arabic mata "he died," from Persian (see second element in checkmate).