stalemate的词源

英文词源

stalemate: stalemate: [18] Stalemate is a compound noun, based on the now obsolete stale ‘stalemate’. And this in turn was probably borrowed from Anglo- Norman estale ‘fixed position’, a derivative of Old French estaler ‘halt’, which also underlies English stale and stall. So etymologically, when you reach stalemate in chess, you have to ‘stand’ or ‘halt’ where you are, going neither forward nor back.
stalemate (n.): 1765, in chess, from stale "stalemate" (early 15c.) + mate (n.2) "checkmate." Middle English stale is probably from Anglo-French estale "standstill" (see stall (n.2)). A misnomer, because a stale is not a mate. "In England from the 17th c. to the beginning of the 19th c. the player who received stalemate won the game" [OED]. Figurative sense is recorded from 1885. As a verb from 1765; figurative from 1861.

来自古义 stale,固定的，僵持的，mate,杀，将军，词源同 checkmate.引申比喻义僵局。

该词的英语词源请访问找单词词源英文版：stalemate 词源，stalemate 含义。