meaning of cricket

A number of words have been suggested as sources for the term "cricket". In the earliest definite reference to the sport in 1598 it is called creckett.

One possible source for the name is the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staffIn Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick" In Old French, the word criquet seems to have meant a kind of club or stick.

Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch krick(-e), meaning a stick (crook).

Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket.

According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase") Dr Gillmeister believes that not only the name but the sport itself is of Flemish origin.

History of cricket

Early cricket was at some time or another described as "a club striking a ball (like) the ancient games of club-ball, stool-ball, trap-ball, stob-ball" Cricket can definitely be traced back to Tudor times in early 16th-century England.

Written evidence exists of a game known as creag being played by Prince Edward, the son of Edward I (Longshanks), at Newenden, Kent in 1301 and there has been speculation, but no evidence, that this was a form of cricket.

The earliest written evidence of the game of cricket may date back to France, in a letter written to King Louis XI in 1478, by a man named Estiavannet. He described a game being played by the villagers of Liettres (French Flanders) involving boules (balls) and croquet (a wooden post). However this could have been a different game entirely, such as croquet. The earliest definite reference to cricket being played dates back to evidence given at a 1598 court case which mentions that "creckett" was played on common land in Guildford, Surrey, around 1550. The court in Guildford heard on Monday, 17 January 1597 (Julian date, equating to the year 1598 in the Gregorian calendar) from a 59-year-old coroner, John Derrick, who gave witness that when he was a scholar at the "Free School at Guildford", fifty years earlier, "hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play [on the common land] at creckett and other plaies."

It is believed that it was originally a children's game but references around 1610 indicate that adults had started playing it and the earliest reference to inter-parish or village cricket occurs soon afterwards. In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall was killed when he was struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex.

During the 17th century, numerous references indicate the growth of cricket in the south-east of England. By the end of the century, it had become an organised activity being played for high stakes and it is believed that the first professionals appeared in the years following the Restoration in 1660. A newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" with eleven players a side that was played for high stakes in Sussex in 1697, and this is the earliest known reference to a cricket match of such importance.