hist-games: daldos

[jon at gothic green oak]

Dear Peter and Robert

An English word for daldos may well never have been coined if the game 
only occasionally appeared in Britain. It would have been known under 
what ever name the person who introduced it gave it or something derived 
from this. However the 13th/14th C and 16th C names may well be 
different if the game was introduced by individuals from different 
countries or, if over that period of time, the introduced name was 
replaced by a regional one (though, I admit, this would suggest 
continuous presence of the game over the period).

Having said that, if more boards are discovered after a trawl of 
archaeological finds or as graffiti on extant medieval and later 
buildings then an English name is more likely to have existed. A 
relationship with the Scandinavian names is quite possible but Ill 
suggest, until something with evidence to back it up is found, 
'Ambes-ace' - known from the 13thC (with any number of spellings) as a 
throw of a pair of aces, possibly the most useful throw of the dice in 
the early stages of the game.

More boards from Britain might well be identified now and an English 
name for the game might well also be found. I'll keep on looking...


jon