alphinn.

Etymology: < (i) post-classical Latin alphinus (from 13th cent. in British and continental sources; also alfilus , alphicus ), and its etymon (ii) Anglo-Norman aufyn, Anglo-Norman and Middle French alfin, aufin, Middle French alphin, auffin chess piece able to move two squares diagonally (11th cent. in Old French; see also note below), with dissimilation of consonants < Spanish alfil (although this is first attested later: 1283) or its etymon Arabic al-fīl < al the + fīl elephant, also denoting a piece in chess < Persian pīl , in same senses (already in Middle Persian), further etymology uncertain. The chess piece was so called because originally (in the Indian, Chinese, and Persian forms of the game) it had the shape of an elephant. Compare Old Occitan alfí , Catalan alfil (13th cent.), Portuguese †alfil (16th cent.), Italian †alfino (13th cent.; now alfiere (1551), alteration of †alfino after alfiere standard bearer, ensign: see alferez n.).Sense 2, which is not paralleled in French or other Romance languages, may show an extended use with reference to the awkward and limited moves of the chess piece. Compare Alanus ab Insulis In Parabolis (a1202), quoted in Du Cange: Sic inter schachos Alphinus inutilis extat, Inter aves bubo ‘Just as in chess the alphin is useless, so among birds is the eagle owl’. It is uncertain whether medieval writers in the West had any knowledge of the etymology of the word. Compare the modern French name of the chess piece fou (beginning of the 17th cent.), specific use of fou fool n.¹