In Slovenian, pawns in chess are called peasants. How apt for an ancient war game! I only wonder how pawns should be called today. Office workers?

Addendum (August 21, 2000)

I wrote this piece in a Slovene mountain hut while I watched two fellows play chess at the adjoining table. I made a note for myself to check the origin of the term “pawn” in Encyclopedia Britannica when I return to London, but I did not do this until today, when I stumbled upon this note in my notebook. To my disappointment, the entry about chess in the mighty Britannica offers a great deal of information about the history of the game and all the key pieces, but not a word about the lowly pawn. However, it is safe to assume that the Slovene word for this piece was universal only a few centuries ago.