Home › Glossary › Letter A

alquerque

Games
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Alquerque is an ancient board game of strategy, ancestor of draughts, played on a grid with pieces that capture by leaping.

Detailed Definition
Alquerque appears in poetry as a symbol of ancient cunning and the transmission of games across cultures. Originating in the Middle East and spreading to Europe, it evokes historical continuity in play. Poets use its leaping captures to illustrate sudden reversals of fortune or the aggressive advance of forces, connecting the board's dynamics to themes of conquest and survival.
Example
Example in poetry:
Alquerque’s leaping captures teach the sudden reversal that poets love in strategic verse; Ancient boards of alquerque appear in poems of cultural transmission across deserts; A poet may write of pieces that jump like thoughts across the grid of alquerque; Educational examples show alquerque as the ancestor whose leaps prefigure draughts and checkers; The game’s geometry offers poets a map of aggressive advance and forced removal.
Additional Notes
Alquerque’s leaping captures and grid geometry make it an ancestral map of strategic aggression that poets can draw upon when they need images of sudden reversal or forced removal. Because the game traveled from the Middle East into Europe, it also carries connotations of cultural transmission. Students of historical poetics will find the board useful when tracing the migration of game metaphors across languages. Related modern descendants include draughts and checkers. The game rewards attention to the difference between placement and capture as two distinct modes of poetic action.
Also Known As
Medieval Board Game Strategy Play Ancient Tactics
Skip to main content