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Run Idiot Run or the Meaning of Backgammon "I read somewhere that the original name for backgammon was some Greek word that meant 'idiot run'." This short, unproven remark about the alleged meaning of the name of the backgammon game appeared on the blog of Anonymous® Radio Show™ took us to a journey to the origin of the backgammon game name, where the closest we got to verifying this myth is by finding that fevga, (sometimes spelled feuga) one of the three games played on the Greek backgammon board called tavli, is translated to 'run' (while the other two Greek popular backgammon variants mean 'trapped' (plakoto) and 'doors' (portes).
We also discovered that the meaning of the word 'backgammon' is still on debate. The word backgammon was first used to describe the game formerly known as 'tables' (apparently from the Roman game of 'tabula' that actually referred to all the board games of the era) in the 17th century, as its earliest appearance at the 1650 Oxford English Dictionary might indicate. According to the Wikipedia, 'backgammon' bounds together the words 'back' and 'gamen' (Middle English for game/play); Trade Games suggest that backgammon source is Welsh, where it means 'little battle' and the Backgammon Directory, based on the Parisian Journal, claim that 'backgammon' is a late reincarnation of 'bakhtazmoon', test for luck in Persian.
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