Rook, knight, queen, king and pawns: most chess pieces are inspired by objects, people and animals that we all have in mind. But thebishop what does it represent instead? It is one of the most important pieces on the board, capable of traveling any distance diagonally, but unlike all the others its origin is often unknown. THE’bishopin general, represents the standard-bearer: as also confirmed byTreccani Encyclopediaa possible etymology of the word derives from Arabic al-fārisi.e. “the knight”, with probable reference to flag-bearing knight. This term will actually start to be widely used in late Middle Ages and in Renaissancewhen the rank of ensign was awarded to junior officers.
However, if we refer specifically to thechess bishop (also indicated with the symbols ♗, ♝), then the etymology changes. In fact, this would always derive from Arabic, but from the word al-fīlthat is, theelephant. This is because until around 1400 this piece was modeled in the shape of the animal and could only jump two squares at a time diagonally.
Today, however, these pieces are capable of moving diagonally by any number of steps, and to be honest, their design no longer resembles that of a pachyderm. In reality the crack present in the upper part of the piece in some versions of the bishop he would have represented the fangs of the animal but, over time, some countries have seen it instead bishop’s miter – that is, that particular headgear used by ecclesiastical officials. Precisely for this reason, even today, the piece is modeled on this garment and in some countries, such as the English-speaking ones, thebishop is called bishop, Meaning what bishop.
