Two of my favorite word-history finds in this one: "checkmate" comes straight from the Persian shah mat ("the king is stuck/helpless") - chess terminology that hasn't really changed in over a thousand years. "Hazard" is usually traced to the Arabic word for dice, az-zahr, picked up by traders long before it ever meant "danger" in English (etymologists still argue about exactly how it crossed into French, but that's the leading theory). Which surprised you more - the chess term or the dice game? Bonus fact: "chess" itself comes from the plural of that same Persian/Arabic word for king, shah.
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