fidchell

' () or ' (in Welsh, pronounced ) was a board game popular among the ancient Celts. Fidchell was played between two people who moved an equal number of pieces across a board; the board shared its name with the game played upon it. Based on the descriptions in Irish and Welsh literature as well as archaeological finds of game pieces, it is likely to have been a variant of ludus latrunculorum played in Ireland and Britain.

== Etymology == The name of the game in multiple Celtic languages -- Old Irish , Middle Welsh , Breton , Cornish —is a compound translating to "wood-wisdom", "wood-intelligence", or "wood-sense". The fact that the compound is identical in each language suggests that it is of extreme antiquity, with the unattested earlier form being reconstructed *widu-kweillā "wood-understanding" in Common Celtic. The game is often compared to or identified with chess, though chess was unknown in Europe until the 12th century. The Old Irish form evolved into , the word used in modern Irish for modern chess, along with Scottish Gaelic fidhcheall and Manx feeal; the similar is the name in Welsh for modern chess.