Prophetical, Educational and Playing CardsVan Rensselaer, John King, Mrs.
Religion
Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards
Van Rensselaer, John King, Mrs.
Fortune-telling by cards -- History; Playing cards -- History
So far "according to Hoyle," but any one who has studied games and their
sequences may also suppose that among the descendants of the Prince of
Hesse's soldiers who were left after the war with England to spend the
remainder of their lives in exile, the old games common in their country
were remembered, and a game was evolved that suited the cards with the
French pips, which were the only ones obtainable in this country, even
although they differed from those of the Fatherland. Euchre resembles
Gleek or Glück, a game well known in Germany, so the tradition of the
farmer's daughter, although ingenious, is probably without foundation.
Many of the terms used in Euchre and Nonsuch Euchre are probably derived
from the dialect spoken by German immigrants and their children. The name
Bower is the American-German word signifying "youngster," which may well
describe "the Knave child," as it was at one time called in England. This
word was naturally bestowed by Pennsylvania Germans on the card, for they
still speak a _patois_ peculiarly their own and clearly derived from their
ancestors. It was probably they who gave this name to the Knave, and it is
retained for the aforementioned game, where certain Knaves have a
particular value.
The word Euchre seems likely to have been derived from the shout of
exultation usual when playing certain games of cards in Germany, although
the evil tendencies of the imp who presides over the spelling of English
words has altered the original word _Juch_ to the peculiarly unmeaning one
of Euchre.
_Juch_ pronounced Yuch, is a cry of exhultation. There is not only a verb
to cry out, _Juch_, but a somewhat unusually constructed noun made from
that verb, which is _Jucheier_; whereas _Jucher_ would be the normally
constructed noun made from that verb. Therefore, it seems quite natural to
assume that _Jucher_, describing a player shouting with exultation when
winning a point, must have been used unconsciously, whether this word is
to be found in the dictionary or not, for it is certainly this exclamation
that is used as the player throws down the card winning the third trick in
Euchre when the opponent has ordered or taken up the trump card or made
the suit. The words Keno or Domino are commonly used to declare winning
one of those two games, particularly in foreign countries, and since
Euchre is evidently derived from alien games, and was introduced by
persons speaking a _patois_ of English and German, the name is probably
taken from the verb mentioned. Ch is pronounced in German like K, so
_Jucher_ has the sound of Euchre. In Grimm's "Deutsches Woerterbuch," we
find the following definition:
JUCH (interjection).--A loud burst of joy. As example, "The good man
dreamed as if he were still at the card club, shouting, 'Juch, Juch,
Grun (the leaf suit in the German cards) is chosen.'"
JUCHEN (verb).--To shout "Juch."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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