The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.Gomme, Alice Bertha
History
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.
Gomme, Alice Bertha
Folklore -- Great Britain; Games -- Great Britain
The figures or sets are practically the same as those described under
“Fivestones.” The game is very ancient. In the _Sanctuarie of
Salvation_, &c., translated from the Latin of Levinus Lemnius by Henry
Kinder (8vo, London, printed by H. Singleton), p. 144, we read, “These
bones are called ‘huckle-bones’ or ‘coytes.’” For further information
relating to this game, as played by the ancients, the reader may consult
_Joannis Meursii Ludibunda, sive de Ludis Græcorum, Liber singularis_
(8vo, Lugd. Bat. 1625), p. 7, and _Dan. Souterii Palamedes_, p. 81; but
more particularly, _I Tali ed altri Strumenti lusori degli antichi
Romani, discritti da Francesco de ’Ficoroni_, 4to, Rom. 1734. Against
the suggestion that the modern game is derived directly from the
Romans, is the fact that it is known in countries never traversed or
occupied by the Romans. Thus Dr. Clarke, in his _Travels in Russia_,
1810, p. 106, says: “In all the villages and towns from Moscow to
Woronetz, as in other parts of Russia, are seen boys, girls, and
sometimes even old men, playing with the joint-bones of sheep. This game
is called ‘Dibbs’ by the English. It is of very remote antiquity; for I
have seen it very beautifully represented on Grecian vases; particularly
on a vase in the collection of the late Sir William Hamilton, where a
female figure appeared most gracefully delineated kneeling upon one
knee, with her right arm extended, the palm downwards, and the bones
ranged along the back of her hand and arm. In this manner the Russians
play the game.”
See “Dalies,” “Fivestones.”
Hummie
The game otherwise called “Shinty.” The shinty or hummie is played by a
set of boys in two divisions who attempt to drive with curved sticks a
ball, or what is more common, part of the vertebral bone of a sheep, in
opposite directions (_Blackwood’s Magazine_, August 1821, p. 36). If one
of the adverse party happens to stand or run among his opponents, they
call out “Hummie, keep on your own side.”—Jamieson.
Hundreds
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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