Rook, knight, queen, king and pawns: most chess pieces are inspired by objects, people and animals that we all have in mind. But what does the standard bearer represent? It is one of the most important pieces on the board, capable of traveling any distance diagonally, but unlike all the others its origin is often unknown. The standard bearer, in general, represents the standard bearer: as also confirmed byTreccani Encyclopediaa possible etymology of the word derives from Arabic al-fārisi.e. “the knight”, with probable reference to the standard-bearing knight. This term actually began to be widely used in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, when the rank of ensign was given to inferior officers.
However, if we refer specifically to the chess bishop (also indicated with the symbols ♗, ♝), then the etymology changes. In fact, this would always derive from Arabic, but from the word al-fīlthat is, the elephant. This is because until around 1400 this piece was modeled in the shape of the animal and could only jump two squares at a time diagonally.
Today, however, these pieces are capable of moving diagonally by any number of steps, and to be honest, their design no longer resembles that of a pachyderm. In reality, the slit present in the upper part of the piece in some versions of the standard bearer would have represented the animal’s tusks in a stylized manner but, over time, some countries instead saw the bishop’s miter – that is, that particular headdress used by ecclesiastical officials. Precisely for this reason, even today, the piece is modeled on this garment and in some countries, such as in English-speaking ones, the standard bearer is called bishopthat is, bishop.
