Names for Go in Other Languages
Keywords: Culture & History
The accepted international name of the game of go comes from the Japanese. However, each of the cultures in which go originally flourished has its own name for the game:
In addition, Ing Chang-Ki proposed the seldom-used alternative spelling goe.
Calligraphic images of the characters for Igo, Wei'qi, and Baduk can be found here.
Some version of the Japanese name "Go" is used in many languages. E.g. English, German, French, Spanish, Polish, etc all have "Go". Many other languages use something very similar (Го, Γκο, Goo, Gó, gos, Cờ, etc). An easy way to see them is to view the links to other articles about Go in other languages at Wikipedia.
- Russian: the term Облавные шашки (Oblavnye shashki) is sometimes used, which would translate as the encircling (or hunting) checkers.
- Thai: หมากล้อม (mak-lom), meaning surrounding stones/board game.
Poetic names
- Shou tan (Chinese) or Shudan (Japanese) -- hand talk 手談
- Ranka -- rotted axe-handle 爛柯
- Tendo -- heavenly way 天道 Tendō
- Uro -- crows and herons 烏鷺
- Hoen -- squares and circles 方円 Hōen