Chess in Iceland and in Icelandic literature: with historical notes on other table-games

About this book

A scholarly account of chess in Iceland and its place in Icelandic writing, Fiske’s volume also records the history of other table games for readers interested in literary and game history. In one discussion, he considers filarnir, an Icelandic term for rooks, and questions whether its link to the word for elephant reflects actual chess usage or a learned borrowing. Later, drawing on Hyde’s research on nard, he brings together Greek, Persian, and Arabic sources while observing that this wealth of scholarship often leaves the rules unclear. The book is better suited to historical inquiry than to learning how to play.